Luigi the Yoshi Leader: Retold
by N64 Chick
Summary: Luigi returns to Yoshi's Island in this retelling of the second story in the LAS trilogy.
1. Adventure Begins Again

Chapter 1: Adventure Begins Again

This story begins on one particularly rainy morning at the home of the Mario Bros. Mario was humming to himself while cooking breakfast. Luigi, however, wasn't in as good of a mood as Mario. He sat at the kitchen table and gazed at a pink sparkly rock that he held in his left hand.

"Why the long face?" Mario asked when he heard Luigi sigh.

"Oh. I was just thinking about Yoshi's Island," Luigi said gloomily. "It's been about a year since I was there. I wonder if those yoshis I stayed with remember me."

"They probably do. I don't see why they wouldn't. Look, I've got breakfast ready. Why don't you go ahead and eat some, then tell me all about it when we're done. Okay?"

Luigi looked up from the rock. "Oh no..." he moaned. "Spaghetti again? You know that we always have a few days worth of leftovers when you make that. Can't you just cook less?"

"I don't do things that way," Mario said firmly.

Luigi wasn't impressed with the meal, but disdainfully ate it anyway. He didn't feel like arguing.

Mario had a word with his brother after dinner. "So about the yoshis..." he began.

"Well, I'd like to be able to see them again," said Luigi. "I was just beginning to fit in with them and then I got torn away."

"It's raining right now," Mario pondered as he looked outside. "If it clears up tomorrow, we can try to get Wario to lend us his ship. I'll go ahead and call him right now."

Meanwhile, Wario was relaxing in a recliner and doing a little nose-cleaning when his telephone rang. After it rang three times, he reluctantly picked it up.

"I don't care if it slices, dices, peels or has wheels!" Wario snapped. "I'm not buying!"

"Ow. My ear," said Mario.

"Is that you, Mario? Sorry about that. I thought it was another one of those no-good salespeople. You know how people would rather ask me for money rather than getting off their lazy butts and getting it themselves."

"Actually, I did plan on asking you for a favor. Of course..." Mario stammered. "I know you don't like doing a favors...unless there's money involved. And I'm kinda in the hole right now..."

"Get to the point, little man."

"Luigi wants to go to Yoshi's Island and we kinda need your ship to get there."

Wario was quiet and thought for a moment. Being a treasure hunter, he was always seeking out new places to look for treasure and he's never really had a chance to check out Yoshi's Island.

"Wario? You still there?"

"Okay, Mario. You can use my ship. But on one condition."

"Name it."

"Waluigi and I get to come too."

Mario shuddered when he heard Waluigi's name. He knew that he and Luigi didn't get along very well. In fact, he was the very reason Luigi was stranded on Yoshi's Island to begin with.

"Let me speak to him," Mario demanded.

Wario set the phone down and looked around for Waluigi. Mario waited for a few minutes until somebody finally picked the phone back up.

"Whaaaazzzzzup?!" It was Waluigi.

"Hello, Waluigi," Mario said, not impressed with the greeting. "Listen up. Luigi and I want to go to Yoshi's Island and-"

"Yeah. I know," Waluigi interrupted. "Wario filled me in."

"Just promise me that you'll be good and don't do anything stupid. Or else..."

"Eh, I'll be too busy to cause trouble anyway."

"Whatever. Tell Wario that we'll be over at your place at around noon. Ciao," Mario then hung up the phone.

"So what's the verdict?" Luigi asked.

Mario shrugged. "For some reason, Wario seemed kinda eager to go with us. In any case, we're going over there at noon tomorrow. By the way..." he added. "You don't mind if Waluigi comes along, do you?"

"What?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Don't worry now. I'll make sure he doesn't try anything. And if he does, he's getting his butt blasted."

"If you say so," said Luigi, not liking the idea of his rival going on the trip with him.

"Why don't you work on Link's Awakening?" Mario suggested. "Ever finish the Face Shrine?"

Luigi's eyes lit up. "Yeah. That's a good idea," He then went into the bedroom to fetch his Game Boy Color.

The next morning, the brothers began to pack their things after they ate breakfast. Luigi packed his GBC with three games, a flashlight, some batteries, some snacks, a pencil and a pad of paper. Mario packed some munchies as well as a couple sets of clothes for him and Luigi, a few books and a CD player with a handful of CDs.

"Is that everything then?" Mario asked when it was time to go.

"Almost," Luigi said as he picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Well, make it quick. I told Wario that we would be there at noon and it's eleven-thirty right now."

Luigi signaled Mario to be quiet as he listened to the phone ring.

"Hello?" Daisy said on the other end.

"Hi Daisy."

"Hiya, sweetums. How's it going?"

"Good, good. I just called to tell you that I'm going to Yoshi's Island."

"Yoshi's Island, huh?" Daisy giggled. "Wonderful place. Cute yoshis, pretty flowers, lovely beaches..."

"Yeah. I'm gonna be there for a few days so don't bother trying to call me for awhile."

Mario was now tapping his foot impatiently. "Hey, Luigi. What's the hold up?"

"Anyway, gotta go now. Bye."

"Bye," Then they both hung up.

The Marios grabbed their back packs and went outside. After Mario locked the door, they made their way to where the Warios lived.

Waluigi was casually leaning against the front door of his home when the brothers showed up. "Good timing, guys. Wario happens to be watching the weather report. Don't need anyone to go overboard this time, do we?"

"Heheh. You actually care?" Luigi asked.

"Look, I don't want any trouble this time. Okay?" Waluigi said as he lead Mario and Luigi through the door and down a hallway.

Wario was sitting in front of the TV while eating some greasy and heavily-salted snack chips. "Check it out, guys." he said with his mouth full.

Mario and Luigi looked at the television and saw that the radar showed no signs of rain. "Looks good to me," Luigi nodded.

"Waluigi! Do you have those suitcases packed yet?!" Wario barked.

"Geez. They're right next to you," Waluigi replied in a bit of an annoyed tone.

"Well, hurry up and grab them so we can get outta here!"

Mario, Luigi and Wario left the living room and exit the front door as Waluigi followed along while hefting along a couple of suitcases.

"Heavy packing, eh?" Luigi remarked when he noticed Waluigi struggling to keep up. "What do you have in those things?"

"None of your business," Waluigi complained. "I didn't even want to bring much. I'm probably staying on the ship the whole time anyway."

Upon arriving at the port, the quartet boarded Wario's ship. Luigi and Waluigi dropped off their luggage in the cabin, then Luigi went to the bow and looked out toward the sea. He's clearly excited about the trip even though he isn't saying much. Waluigi went to the other end of the ship to untie the rope so he wouldn't have a repeat of what happened last time. However, he was already too late.

"Hey you!" Mario called. "Tall guy with crappy voice! Untie the rope so we can get outta here!"

"Grrr..." Waluigi growled. "Hey! Short guy with girly voice! Do it yourself!"

Mario simply pointed a finger at Waluigi as he tried to think of a comeback, but one never came. Defeated, Mario untied the rope himself.

"Whahaha!" Wario laughed and slapped Mario on the back. "Waluigi is hard to beat at insulting, isn't he? Not that a goody two-shoes like you stood a chance."

"He had an advantage," said Mario. You can't expect a short and...well...slightly plump guy to compete with a beanpole like that."

"Huh. Interesting theory. Anyway, I'm just gonna go ahead and get this thing started," Wario then walked to the helm.

Mario didn't take a moment to leave his back pack in the cabin earlier so he went there to do so now. He had just set it down on the floor and flopped onto the bed when Luigi, Waluigi and Wario walked in.

"Come on, Wario. What did you bring?" Luigi pleaded.

"Nothing you'd be interested in," grumbled Wario.

"Just show him so he'll shut up," Waluigi said as his patience ran out. He then popped both of them open.

Mario and Luigi both looked, but were dumbfounded about what they saw. Inside one of them was garlic cloves, eggplants and other foods that didn't look the least bit appetizing. The other contained nothing but several empty burlap sacks which had dollar signs on them for some reason.

"Well, that would explain the smell," Mario said flatly.

"I don't get it," Luigi also said in a mono-tone voice.

"Look," Wario tried to explain "I needed something to do while you're spending time with cutsie-poo yoshis. That's not my sort of thing, you know."

Luigi put a hand on his chin. "I suppose. As long as you don't bug me or the yoshis, what you do is none of my concern. Now let's get this show on the road, shall we?"


	2. Not Quite Pleasure Cruise

Chapter 2: Not-Quite Pleasure Cruise

The trip has begun, but it will take several hours before Wario's ship reaches its destination. Mario, Luigi and Waluigi are going to have to find some way to keep themselves occupied until they arrive at the sandy shores of Yoshi's Island.

"What the heck _was_ that all about?" Luigi asked. "The empty sacks I mean."

"You know how Wario is," Waluigi replied. "Always running around and looking for treasure. When he gets off his fat butt, that is."

"Heh. That explains it."

"So, what do you guys want to do?" asked Mario.

"I got a little surprise that'll at least keep Luigi busy for awhile," Waluigi said as he opened the suitcase containing the food and dug around in it a bit. What he took out of it was a small package that was wrapped in green and blue paper. "Here you go," he continued as he handed it to Luigi.

Luigi, however, hesitated to take it. "What's this?"

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it?"

"This is a gag, right?"

"What's the matter you? Open it," Waluigi insisted.

"I agree with Luigi when he thinks that this is a gag," Mario chimed in. "But open it already! It's certainly got me curious!"

"Okay. If you really think I should..." Luigi said, not so sure if he liked the idea. That soon changed when he tore the paper off.

"Whad'ja get?! Whad'ja get?!" Mario chanted.

Luigi stared at the item that he had gotten with wide eyes. "Si-silver..." was all he managed to say.

"Yes. Pokémon Silver," Waluigi said matter-of-factly.

"Talk about nice!" exclaimed Mario. "Luigi was thinking about picking that up a few weeks ago. Good thing he didn't, huh?"

"But why?" Luigi asked his doppelganger.

"Well, you see," Waluigi began to explain. "When Mario keep freezing me after I ditched you in the storm last year, it made me realize what an almighty idiot I was. So I got you a present. No hard feelings then?"

"Sure. No hard feelings," Luigi said as he shook Waluigi's hand.

Waluigi, however, looked a bit confused and uncomfortable when he did that. Being the rude fellow that he usually is, he was never into shaking hands with anyone.

"Besides," Waluigi continued. "Wario got the Gold version so he needed someone to trade with and all that junk and that's really not my sort of thing."

"Is that so? I'll get right on it then. Grazie," Luigi got his GBC out of his back pack, popped his new game in and began playing.

"Heheh," Mario chuckled. Looks like Luigi has something to do for the rest of the trip."

"Let's see..." Luigi thought aloud when it came time to pick his starter. Chikorita is cute...fire is useful...and water..."

"Hey. Don't pick Cyndaquil," said Waluigi. "That's the one Wario chose."

"Okay then. I'll take Totodile. The little guy kinda looks like a yoshi. Just look at the red spines on his back," Luigi laughed.

"Well, that's certainly an original way to pick."

Luigi was able to keep himself busy just fine with his game. Mario and Waluigi weren't so fortunate.

"I spy with my little eye something...orange," said Mario.

"For goodness sake," Waluigi griped. "If it's my shoes again, I'm gonna slug you."

"Uh..." Mario thought quickly. "It was your right shoe last time. This time it's the left."

Waluigi just growled in frustration.

"Okay. That was bad." Mario admitted. "I spy with my little eye... Huh? What are you doing over there, Luigi?"

Even though getting a new game was exciting, Luigi was still eager to get to Yoshi's Island and meet up with his friends. He turned off his GBC awhile ago and was now staring out the window.

"What's with you?" Waluigi asked and waved a hand in front of Luigi. The green-clad fellow seemed to be daydreaming, however.

Mario waggled a finger. "That's not gonna work. Get a load of this," he said as he got behind Luigi and grabbed one of his overall straps. He pulled it as far as he could, then let go.

"Yow!" Luigi screamed when he got snapped in the back. "What did you do that for?!"

"Just getting your attention," Mario said with a smile.

"What's so interesting out there, anyway?" Waluigi questioned.

"Oh. I just noticed some weird ship outside."

Mario looked out the window and saw a blueish gray ship. There were many small cages on the deck along with fishing nets.

"Odd," he said quietly. "I wonder what those cages are for?"

"Maybe it's a fishing boat," Waluigi suggested. "Some people like sea food, you know."

Luigi licked his lips. "I could go for some clam chowder right now."

"Oh whatever," Waluigi changed the subject. "I'm gonna go mess with Wario. Anyone wanna watch?"

Mario's eyes lit up when Waluigi pulled a laser pointer out of his pocket. He quickly snatched it and ran outside.

"Hey! Give that back!" Waluigi shouted as he and Luigi also leave the cabin.

Outside, they looked around for Mario, but they couldn't find him. Wario was at the helm. It seems like nothing happened to him.

"We're not there yet," Wario said when he heard footsteps. "Give me another hour."

"Is Mario around here?" asked Luigi.

"How should I know?" Wario grumped and turned to face the two skinny guys. "I've been steering this thing the whole time. Now if you don't mind, I'll just go back to doing that so we don't end up in a whirlpool."

"Well, I suppose you got a poin-"

Suddenly, Wario screamed. "Egad! I'm blind! Argh!" He ran around on the deck haphazardly until he ran smack-dab into the wall of the cabin and knocked himself out, causing Luigi and Waluigi to laugh in hysterics.

"Wow! That was stupid!" Luigi howled with laughter.

Up on the roof of the cabin, Mario was also laughing like a maniac. "Oh, man! That was perfect!"

"Hey!" Waluigi snapped. "I said I wanted to mess with him! Not kill him! So revive him! Now!"

Mario simply shrugged, then jumped off the cabin.

"What do you expect him to do?" Luigi scoffed. "Mouth-to-mouth?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Waluigi said smugly as he pointed to Mario who was preparing to do just that.

Luigi was frozen in horror. "Ma-Mario?"

"I know what I'm doing," the older brother said without looking up.

After a few minutes, Wario woke up in a daze. "Whoaaa... Pretty coins. What happened?"

"Well," Waluigi explained. "That idiot made you smash your head on the wall over there, then he did CPR on you. Either he's got guts or he's incredibly stupid."

Wario, not liking what he just heard, ran off screaming.

"I kinda wish I hadn't done that," said a disgusted Mario. "I think I'm gonna be tasting garlic for awhile."

Luigi wasn't paying any attention to the others. He saw a certain familiar island off in the distance...


	3. Meet the Yoshis

Chapter 3: Meet the Yoshis

After a long and somewhat twisted trip, Wario's ship has finally reached Yoshi's Island. The quartet got off the ship and looked around the beach. There was a pleasant breeze blowing and it was nice and quiet aside from the ocean waves.

"So. This is Yoshi's Island, huh?" Waluigi asked as he scratched his chin.

"Looks like it," replied Mario. "But I don't see any yoshis."

"That's funny," Luigi mused. "The yoshis hang out around here a lot. Mainly to play games and have meetings."

"What the heck is this?" Wario said and pointed to some strange markings on the sand in front of him.

Luigi knelt down to get a good look. "It's a tic-tac-toe board. There must be some yoshis around here then."

Suddenly, a purple yoshi dashed out of a nearby clump of trees. Hot on its heels was a pink yoshi. The purple yoshi looked behind it as it ran straight towards Mario and Luigi.

"Move it, Mario!" Wario warned.

"Look out, Luigi!" Waluigi cautioned.

Before the brothers could react, the purple yoshi ran right into Luigi and knocked him down. The pink yoshi tried to skid to a halt, but it was too late. She crashed into Mario, also knocking him to the ground. Wario and Waluigi are both dumbfounded by the odd scene.

"How many times do I have to tell you watch where you're going, Purpley?!" the pink yoshi shouted angrily.

"Don't worry, Pinky," the purple yoshi moaned. "I learned my lesson now."

"Hello, Purpley," Luigi said. "Would you mind getting off me?"

Purpley gasped when she saw who she bumped into and immediately stood up. "It's you!"

"Oh my gosh! Luigi!" Pinky shouted. "And I remember you too! You're his friend!"

"Brother," Mario corrected.

"I think I remember you..." Purpley said while looking at Wario, then Waluigi. "But I've never seen you before."

"I could say the same," Waluigi said bitterly.

"Now now," said Luigi, feeling a little nervous. "You two don't know each other because you've never even met to begin with."

"So why are you here?" Pinky asked. "Are you lost again?"

"Nope. I just came back to visit my friends for awhile. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all!" the pink dinosaur said happily. "Everyone will be so glad to know you're back."

Purpley giggled. "I can't wait to tell them you're here!" Unable to contain her excitement, she ran into the forest to fetch the herd.

"Maybe I missed the boat or something," said a confused Wario. "But what's going on here?"

"Sorry about that. I suppose I didn't properly introduce you to Pinky yet."

"Uh...hi?" Pinky said, trying to be nice. However, Wario only gave her an awkward glance.

Pinky is a kind and loving yoshi. She is careful about what she says and watches over everyone. She acts as a nurse of sorts to the herd. In fact, she was the one to discover Luigi when he washed up on the shore after the terrible accident.

Purpley quickly returned with the rest of the yoshis. They were certainly a colorful bunch. Along with Pinky and Purpley, there was red, yellow, blue, sea-green, black, and two orange yoshis. Upon seeing Luigi, they swarmed around him and cheered all sorts of welcomes.

"You're back!"

"I don't believe it! It's you!"

"Where have you been all this time?!"

"Stop jumping!" Luigi yelled in a vain attempt to calm everyone down. "Ow! My foot! Gah! That was my other o-"

Luigi's words were cut short when he fell face first into the sand. The yoshis stopped jumping.

"Oh dear," said the black yoshi. "Sorry. I guess we got a little too excited, huh?"

Blacky is the leader of the herd. He's a large yoshi with a deep voice. He may look intimidating, but he's a rather nice guy. He is a force in combat, however.

Luigi got on his feet and dusted himself off. He tried to say something, only to find that he got a mouthful of sand. Everyone laughed as Luigi spat out the gritty stuff.

"You need to wash your filthy mouth out!" Waluigi roared with laughter.

"Not funny," Luigi said, not too amused.

"So how's it going, Luigi?" asked Blacky. "And who are these guys?"

"I'm doing great. And I was just about to introduce you to my friends. This is Mario the glory hog," Luigi said as he pointed to Mario.

"Hey!" snapped an offended Mario.

"Hi, Mario!" the yoshis said together.

Luigi then pointed to Wario. "That's Wario the yellow guy."

"Hi, yellow Mario!"

"That's Wario, not Mario!" Wario said angrily. "Get my name right, you little punks!"

"And that twig over there is Waluigi..." Luigi said flatly while pointing to Waluigi.

"Hi, purple Luigi!"

"How dare you!" Waluigi scowled. "Call me that again and POW! Right in the kisser!"

"Hey! Don't talk to them like that!" Luigi said when he heard the threat.

"Would you mind introducing the yoshis to us already?" Mario asked. "I'd like to go and unpack my stuff."

"Sure thing, Mario. Everybody just tell them your name so we can get going."

"I'm Pinky," said the pink yoshi. "That won't be hard to remember, will it?"

"Only if you're a cheeky little beanpole with bony girl arms and a chin the size of Florida," Mario said with a grin.

"Shut up! She wasn't asking for your opinion!" Waluigi barked.

"Yeah! Score one for the fat guys!" laughed Wario.

"Can I say my name now?" the red yoshi asked.

Redy is a pretty average yoshi. Much like the Mario Brother that wears his color, he's good at everything, but best at nothing. He is a little prone to getting frustrated though.

"I oughta use my Dark Stare on you two," Waluigi said evilly.

"Oh no," Mario said in a mocking voice. "I'm soooo scared. Waluigi wants to stare at me."

"Feh. He's a wimp like that," Wario chimed in.

Redy tried to get their attention. "Could I please-"

"Shut up, you idiots!" Luigi yelled. His sudden outburst silenced everyone.

"Sorry," Mario apologized. "But let's face it. The guy is a moron."

"Well, Redy here was trying to introduce himself. That's what you wanted to begin with."

"Yo, Redy," Wario said. "Get ready for Waluigi's stare. They say it causes hallucinations..." He and Mario howled with laughter.

"What does yellow Mario mean?" Redy asked, very confused by the human's behavior.

Luigi was silent. He just stood there while his left eye twitched.

"That does it," he finally said. "My patience just ran out. If you want to know their names, go and ask them yourself. It's not like they'll bite. Though considering that most of their names are the color that they are, I guess introductions were a bit unnecessary to begin with."

"Ah, who cares?" Wario scoffed. "Waluigi and I weren't gonna hang around with you guys anyway. I have stuff to do elsewhere."

"Then again..." Luigi mused as he looked at the two orange yoshis. One of them wore brown shoes. The other had light-blue ones. "Oshi?"

The one with light-blue shoes stepped up to Luigi. "Luigi!" he said.

Oshi was only a baby the last time Luigi saw him. At the time, he was shy and couldn't say much. He appears to be more confident now.

"Whoa! You've sure grown since the last time I've seen you!"

"He sure has," said Purpley. "Kids don't stay as kids forever."

Purpley is Oshi's mother. She has a bubbly voice and is very out-going. For reasons known only to her, she seemed to have a crush on Luigi as soon as she met him.

"Look at the sea-green one right there," Mario said to Luigi. "Wasn't she just a tiny thing last time we were here?"

The sea-green yoshi seemed to be a bit more shy than the other yoshis, but she was happy to see Luigi approach her. "Hello, Luigi. So glad to finally see you again," she giggled.

"Same here," he said, but then he noticed something. "Mama mia! Yosheta! You talk!"

Yosheta is Pinky's daughter. As Mario pointed out, she was a newborn when he showed up to take Luigi home. In fact, Luigi hatched and named her himself. Her voice is quite soft.

"Look," Waluigi said as he crossed his arms. "I'm sure this is all good and well, but I'd really like to get back to the ship and have dinner now."

"Are you sure?" asked Blacky. "You can have dinner with the rest of us in my cave if you'd like. Maybe even spend the night there."

"Nah. I'd rather- Urk!" Waluigi grunted as his brother pulled him off to the side.

"Don't you know it's rude to refuse an offer?" he said quietly. "If we're nice to these guys, they might point us to some treasure. If you catch my drift. Now go fetch the suitcases, Lazy Bones!"

Waluigi shrugged and took off.

"What's a suitcase?" the yellow yoshi asked when he overheard Wario.

Yellowy is the third youngest yoshi in the herd. He is by no means the largest, but he is pretty pudgy. You could say he looks a bit like Wario.

"Something you carry stuff in," Wario replied. "Are you stupid or something?"

"Wario..." Luigi said, slightly annoyed. "There's something you should know. The yoshis haven't had much contact with humans, so they really don't know about that sort of thing."

"How in the heck did you manage to live with these guys for a few days?"

"It was rough at first, but I managed."

Waluigi soon returned with the suitcases. "Hurry up and show me where the cave is," he moaned. "These things are heavy."

The herd and the humans left the beach and made their way through the forest to Blacky's cave. Redy and the other orange yoshi, Orangey, walked a little slower than the others.

Like Redy, Orangey doesn't seem to have any traits that make him stand out. The two are brothers actually.

"Strange fellows..." said Redy.

"Yeah," Orangey agreed. "But they _are_ Luigi's friends. I'm sure we'll get used to them sometime."


	4. Trouble Brews

Chapter 4: Trouble Brews

The next day was nice and sunny with only a few clouds in the sky. About an hour after they had breakfast, everyone went to the beach for a game of Tag. Wario and Waluigi wanted to start looking for treasure, but Luigi made them play anyway.

"Tag! You're It!" Yellowy shouted as he tagged Luigi.

"Nope! Redy's It!" Luigi yelled after tagging Redy.

"Gotcha!" Redy called when he tagged Wario. "Now yellow Mario's It!"

"Get back here!" Wario growled.

Unfortunately, Wario isn't known for his agility. He set his sights on Mario, hoping that he would be the slowest. Despite his appearance, Mario is surprisingly quick.

"Hey, Stinky! Over here!" Mario taunted.

Ignoring his rival's comment, Wario tried his luck with the blue yoshi, Bluey.

Bluey is one of the biggest yoshis in the herd, so it is understandable that Wario targeted him. He can be described as a gentle giant. The guy wouldn't hurt a fly. He is also Yellowy's dad.

"Nice try!" Bluey cheered. Even he was too fast for Wario.

Going after Luigi would be a huge mistake, so Wario tried going after Waluigi instead.

"You're lousy!" Waluigi teased.

Angered, Wario closed his eyes as he threw himself at Waluigi. Just as he landed, he felt something with his left hand. "Yes!" he hissed.

Waluigi, as well as everyone else, just laughed. It turned out that Wario landed between Waluigi's long legs and tagged a palm tree.

"I give up..." Wario panted. "I'm too thirsty to run anymore."

"Yeah. I'm feeling rather parched myself," said Luigi. "How about we all go to the waterhole for a drink?"

The yoshis nod in agreement. Everyone went into the forest and walk to the waterhole. Luigi decided to lag behind a bit and have a word with Oshi.

"That was some great jumping," the young yoshi said.

"Heheh. Yeah," said Luigi. "You were quite good yourself."

Oshi chuckled with glee. "Thanks, Luigi."

"I see that you speak English now. When did that start?"

"A few days after you left. Mom taught me so I'd be able to talk to you when you came back."

Luigi just smiled and nodded.

Elsewhere on the beach, two humans have showed up. One of them, a female named Vicky, wore a gray uniform and had a net in hand. Her eyes were green and she had long blond hair that went down in her waist. The other one, a male named Nicky, also wore a uniform and wielded a net. He had blond hair like Vicky, but his only came to his shoulders. Unlike Vicky, his eyes were brown.

"I'm so happy, I could kiss this ground right now," said Vicky. Her voice was a bit on the snooty side.

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Nicky. He had a rather meek-sounding voice.

"Following that yellow ship was a great idea. I thought we were lost for sure."

"But...I'm the one that thought of it..."

"Be quiet and get your blowgun out. We won't have our jobs much longer unless we catch some new animals for the zoo."

"Yes, ma'am," Nicky said somewhat reluctantly as he got out his bamboo blowgun and followed Vicky.

Back with Luigi and friends, they've just arrived at the waterhole. Some of the yoshis drank from it while the others sat down to rest.

"Hey," Wario said as he drank greedily. "This water ain't half bad."

"Don't drink too fast," Waluigi warned. "You might drown or something and Mario will have to do mouth-to-mouth again."

Luigi shook his head in disgust. "Sicko."

Mario leaned against a tree and stretched. "Ah. That feels good. Say, what do you guys usually do for fun around here anyway?"

"Well," Blacky began. "To be honest, we didn't do a whole lot. But when Luigi was here, he showed us how to play these neat games like Rock-Paper-Scissors."

"Speaking of which, I've got a new one," said Luigi. "If it's okay with you, Blacky, I'd like to go back to the beach and teach it to you guys."

"Huh? Did you forget?" asked Blacky. "You're our leader. You get to make the plans. But if you really want to know, I think that it's a great idea and I'd love go with it."

After drinking their fill, everyone left the waterhole and returned to the beach. Mario decided to catch a few winks in the shade of a palm tree. Wario and Waluigi saw an opportunity to go treasure-hunting and went to get a few sacks from Blacky's cave before setting out.

"Okay, everyone," Luigi began to explain. "Sit down in a circle. The game I'll be teaching you is called Duck-Duck-Goose."

Yosheta playfully clapped her hands. "Ooh, that sounds like fun," she squealed with delight.

Luigi and the yoshis weren't completely alone, however. The zookeepers, Vicky and Nicky, were poking around at the edge of the beach.

"What are those things?" Vicky thought when she noticed the yoshis. "Check this out, Nicky."

"Just a second," Nicky's voice came from within a nearby bush.

"What are you doing in there?!"

Nicky popped his head out of the bush. "I just found a cocoon. Interested?"

"Bugs bug me. Look at the size of those lizards," Vicky pointed out the yoshis to Nicky.

"Oh, yes," Nicky thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "One of those could replace our komodo dragon quite nicely."

"We're not replacing Mr. Komody," Vicky said sternly.

"I don't think he can hold on much longer, Vicky. Besides, these look much cuter and they seem to adore that guy. He must've trained them very well."

"Let's see if he's willing to sell one to us," Vicky walked toward Luigi.

"Okay then," Luigi said when he finished explaining the game. "Who would like to go fi- Ack!"

Luigi was startled when Nicky tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sorry to alarm you, sir," Nicky said politely. "But I couldn't help but notice how well trained your lizards are."

"Oh. Hi there. Yoshis are so cute, are they?" Luigi smiled.

"Yoshis? That's what they're called?" Vicky asked.

"Of course. You didn't know that? As a matter of fact, this lovely isle we're on is Yoshi's Island."

The zookeepers looked around cluelessly. "It is?" they both said.

"You didn't know that either? You folks aren't from around here, are you?"

"I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nicky and this is my sister, Vicky. We work for a zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo will soon be going under unless we get some new animals. We believe that a yoshi is just what we're looking for. We'd like to buy one for, oh, five hundred coins?"

"I don't want your dirty money," Luigi said calmly.

"But, sir..."

"I said I don't want your dirty money," Luigi was now getting a little angry. "How can you people even think about keeping animals in captivity?"

"Fine. I'll double it," Vicky tried to haggle. "I'll give you one thousand coins for one yoshi. How does that sound?"

"The answer is still no."

"Hey...um..." said a nervous Oshi. "What are coins?"

"Oh my gosh! Did you hear that, Nicky?" Vicky said to her brother. "One of them just asked what coins are!"

"He won't need to know what they are because I decline," said Luigi, who was still irritated.

"But, sir-!" Nicky tried to reason with him again.

"I decline!" Luigi huffed as he folded his arms and turned his back to them.

"Well, if you change your mind, come find us. We'll be around," Nicky said as he and Vicky left Luigi and the herd.

"If he doesn't want to sell us one," Vicky quietly said. "We'll have to steal one."

"What was that about?" Mario yawned. The commotion between Luigi and the zookeepers woke him up.

"I don't know," said Bluey. "There were a couple of humans here and they wanted one of us for a zoo. But what is a zoo?"

"A zoo is a place where animals are put on display and people gawk at them," Mario explained. "You really don't want to go there. Right, Luigi?"

Luigi didn't reply. He stared at the direction he saw the Nicky and Vicky go and growled.

"Hey. Weren't we going to play a game?" Oshi asked, still feeling nervous about the humans that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Sorry, guys," Luigi sighed. "I guess I'm not in the mood for fun right now. You go ahead and frolic for awhile. I have some thinking to do."

Luigi went to the palm tree that Mario was at earlier and sat in the shade. It would seem that the visit was not going to be the walk on the beach that Luigi had hoped it would be...


	5. Attack of the Zookeepers

Chapter 5: Attack of the Zookeepers

The following afternoon, Wario and Waluigi had returned to the beach after an unsuccessful search for treasure.

"What's his problem?" Waluigi asked when he noticed that his rival was upset.

"It's weird," said Mario. "A couple of people asked Luigi to sell them one of the yoshis for a thousand coins. Have you ever heard such nonsense?"

"Holy smokes! That's a lot of money!" Wario shouted.

"I don't get it though," Luigi mused. "How did they even get here? I could understand if they even knew what Yoshi's Island was, but it sounded like they didn't."

"Do you really think they're fork over that much money?" Mario asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I doubt it. No one is that generous," said Wario.

"Is anybody else hungry?" asked Yellowy. "I know I am."

"Now that you mention it, I could go for a bite," Luigi admitted.

"I agree," Pinky chimed in. "I'm always in a better mood when I have a full belly. I'm sure you'll be just fine after you have some watermelon. Or perhaps some grapes."

"Come on, everybody," said Blacky. "Let's all go back to my place."

Everyone thought that it was a fine idea and made their way through the forest to Blacky's cave once again.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Luigi said nervously. "Since I didn't sell a yoshi, those guys will probably try to take one by force."

"They better not," said Mario. "Any friend of Luigi's is a friend of mine. If they do as much as touch a yoshi, I'll give them the worst beating a zookeeper ever took," Mario then randomly punched the air to prove his power.

"Oooh..." Pinky said, impressed with Mario's little show. "Quite nice. You're about as cool as Luigi."

"What? But it's a proven fact that Luigi and I...nah..." Mario shook his head. "Luigi was here first. I'll let him have the credit."

"Oh yeah?" Waluigi sneered. "He wouldn't have gotten here in the first place if it wasn't for me."

"Who asked for your opinion?" the Mario Bros. retorted in unison.

Some distance up ahead, Nicky and Vicky were sitting in a tree. They talked to each other in low voices while keeping an eye out for yoshis or any other interesting animals to wander close.

"So what's the plan?" Vicky asked.

"It's simple really," Nicky replied. "I'll use my blow gun and shoot a tranquilizer dart at a yoshi. After it falls asleep, we can easily capture it."

"Sounds fine. Aha! Here they come. Hurry up and load that thing."

Nicky pulled out a box of darts and opened it, then took one out and loaded it into his blow gun.

As the herd walked, Oshi stopped walking and sniffed the air. "Something's not right."

"What's wrong, Oshi?" Luigi asked.

Suddenly, Mario screamed when he felt a sharp pain in his right leg.

"Nicky! You nincompoop!"

"That would explain it!" Luigi gasped "Run!"

Everyone ran as quickly as they could to the cave. Unfortunately, Mario was already being affected by the tranquilizer. He fell asleep within a matter of seconds.

Luigi was quick to notice his missing comrade and did an about-face while everyone else continued to run. He easily found his, now sleeping, brother.

"Are you okay, Mario?" asked a worried Luigi. "Did you trip on something?"

Figuring that Mario was hurt or perhaps even knocked out, Luigi hoisted him onto his back and slowly made his way to Blacky's cave.

"Hey there, Luigi," Bluey said when Luigi finally made it. "Where were you?"

Luigi's legs slipped out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground with Mario still on him. "Somebody please get Mario off me." he grunted.

"I charge five coins for...uh...Mario Removal," Wario joked.

"What the heck?"

"Ah, you know me better than that, Luigi. I'd rather steal money than work for it."

Wario picked up Mario and set him down on a pile of leaves that were used as a bed.

"Uh oh. Is something wrong with him?" Pinky asked as she looked Mario over.

"I don't know," Luigi answered. "I went back to get him and he was like that."

Yosheta also looked at Mario curiously and found the dart stuck in his leg. "What's this thing?" she asked and pulled it out.

Luigi gasped when he saw Yosheta's find. "A tranquilizer!"

"Train-kill-wiser? What?"

"Tranquilizer," Luigi said, chuckling at Yosheta's mispronunciation. "It's a type of weapon used to put targets to sleep and render than helpless. I bet those zookeepers did this. But why did they shoot Mario? Thanks for finding that though."

Yosheta giggled with delight when Luigi pet her on the head.

"Now then..." Luigi spoke again, this time in a more important sounding tone. "I've got to make everyone aware of this."

While Luigi warned the herd about dangerous darts, Vicky and Nicky were still in the tree.

"You ruined everything, you ruiner!" Vicky shouted angrily as she strangled Nicky.

"Vicky! It's not my fault!" Nicky protested. "Have you tried aiming one of those things before?"

Knowing that beating up her brother wasn't going to accomplish anything, Vicky released Nicky. The two sat in silence for awhile and tried to think.

"I think my plan had a flaw," said Nicky.

"I think the flaw is your brain..."

"There are simply too many of those yoshi things together. You saw how that guy carried away the one I shot, right? Chances are if I did hit a yoshi, they'd just carry that away."

"You should've shot him too," Vicky replied, feeling a bit annoyed. "But I agree. We can only attack when they are alone. I guess this will be harder than I thought."

"Look, let's try again tomorrow. Okay?"

Back in the cave, Luigi had just concluded his explanation.

"I'll keep my eyes peeled," said Blacky.

"Cream of mushroom soup please..." Mario uttered even though he was still snoozing away.

"Is that normal?" Pinky asked while giving Mario a quizzical look.

"Perfectly," Luigi assured.

"Hey. When do we eat?" asked Yellowy.

"Yeah. I'm getting hungry," said Redy.

"Ditto," Waluigi piped up.

"Me too," Oshi agreed.

"I know Mario wanted to take a nap, but this is ridiculous," Wario complained. " Can I plug his nose?"

"No," Luigi said instinctively.

"I want to eat."

"I'm getting pretty hungry."

"Ditto."

"Me too."

"Can I...Ground Pound him?" asked Wario.

"No!" Luigi said again.

"I really want to eat."

"I'm getting really hungry.

"Ditto."

"Me too."

"Can I use my Lightning Slam on him?" Wario asked with a sly grin.

"I have no idea what that is," Luigi replied. "But that sounds painful. So no!"

"I really really want to eat."

"I'm sooooo hungry."

"Ditto."

"Me too."

"Oh, for goodness sake," Blacky said, clearly not wanting to hear any more complaints. "You can have the fruit in the corner and will you please BE QUIET?"

Mario grunted as he suddenly awoke from his slumber. "Will you keep it down? I'm trying to get some sleep here."

"Actually, you were shot with a tranquilizer," said Luigi.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, good," Mario sighed with relief. "I was wondering why my leg hurt."

"Hey, fellows," Blacky noticed that Mario and Luigi weren't eating like everyone else. "It's dinner time."

Mario was quick to join the others in their feeding frenzy. Luigi, on the other hand, kept his cool. After calmly pushing his way through the crowd and getting some bananas, he sat down by the entrance of the cave and ate.

About an hour after dinner, everyone prepared to go to sleep for the night. However, Luigi still sat by the cave's mouth and stared outside.

"Is something the matter?" Mario asked when he noticed that his brother wouldn't budge.

"I'm not sure if I can sleep," Luigi said with a sigh. "What if the zookeepers ambush the yoshis tonight?"

"That seems a little unlikely to me. It's too dark outside. You really shouldn't worry about it. You might hurt yourself. Heck, I got all the sleep I'll need for awhile. If it'll make you feel better, I'll keep a watch out."

"You would?"

"Sure thing. Now you go ahead and get some rest."

Luigi yawned as he settled down with the herd. Mario sat where Luigi was and kept a valiant watch for any kind of trouble.


	6. Fruity Fun

Chapter 6: Fruity Fun

Luigi awoke early the next morning. Despite Mario's assurance, he didn't get much rest. Luigi didn't want to try to go back to sleep, however. If Vicky and Nicky were around, he would have to stay alert. As one could imagine, Luigi wanted to have breakfast. He looked in the corner where the pile of fruit was, but found little more than an apple core and a few banana peels. Luigi wanted to go out and restock Blacky's fruit pile, but there was the obvious problem of having an empty belly. Luigi looked in his back pack and found a cup of ramen noodles. After cooking and eating them, he took everything else out of the back pack and brought it with him when he set out to find some fruit while everyone else slept.

Not long after he left, he found a tree with apples on them. Luigi knew that apples were the favorite of Pinky and Redy, so he picked some and put them in the back pack. A little later, he found some vines with grapes on them. Purpley and Bluey loved grapes, so Luigi picked some of these and placed them in the back pack as well. Even later, Luigi stumbled upon some oranges. Luigi grabbed and stored these too, well knowing that they were adored by orange yoshis like Orangey and Oshi and probably yellow yoshis such as Yellowy too. By the time he returned to the cave, Luigi had also found bananas, coconuts, cherries, two melons and a watermelon. Of course, the watermelon was much too big and heavy to put in the back pack. Luigi simply carried that in his arms.

Half of the yoshis as well as Waluigi were beginning to wake up when Luigi returned to the cave.

"Good morning, Luigi," Yosheta yawned. "Where were you?"

"I was looking for some food," Luigi panted.

Luigi set down the watermelon and removed the fruit from his back pack. By now, the other half of the herd as well as Mario were waking up.

"Look at the size of that watermelon," Bluey said as he eyed the large fruit.

"I think watermelon is the lucky fruit of the day," Yellowy announced.

"I want it!" exclaimed Orangey.

"Gimme gimme!" Redy pleaded.

Redy lashed out his tongue to grab the watermelon, but it was struck by Yellowy's tongue. Orangey tried to grab the watermelon and Bluey slapped him with his tail.

"It looks plump and juicy," remarked Pinky.

"Tasty too," Oshi added.

"Do want!" shouted Purpley.

"That's my favorite!" Yosheta squealed.

More yoshi tongues try to swipe the watermelon, only to be repelled.

"Knock it off, guys!" yelled a fed up Blacky.

Blacky dived at the watermelon to block it, but it was smashed to pieces under his large and heavy body instead. All the yoshis saw a chance to snatch up some watermelon chunks and took it. The commotion woke up Wario, who was quite the heavy sleeper.

"Where were you, Luigi?" asked Mario.

"I went to get some food," he replied. "That's the sort of thing a leader does, right?"

"True," Mario nodded in agreement.

Wario joined the chaotic scene and made a bit of a pig of himself. Waluigi only took an orange and some cherries for himself though.

"Hey..." the lanky fellow said as he peeled the orange. "Where did all this fruit come from? I thought we ate it all yesterday."

"I picked it up earlier," the yoshi leader beamed.

"You're joking, right? Since when were you nice enough to get food this early in the morning? Heh. All this time I thought you were a lazy-"

Waluigi's words were cut off when Luigi grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the wall of the cave, catching everyone by surprise.

"Take that back!" Luigi shouted angrily.

"Say what?" Waluigi gasped.

"I said take that back, you scrawny sack of monkey nuggets!"

"Okay...fine...sorry..."

Since Waluigi apologized, Luigi spared him and let go.

"How in the heck did you come up with that one?" asked Wario, who was rather impressed with the insult.

"I'm not sure actually," Luigi mused. "I might've gotten it from a show I saw on TV."

"Where'd you get the iron grip from?" Waluigi said after catching his breath.

Luigi looked at the hand he used to pin Waluigi with. "Spur the moment, I guess."

"How about we all just settle down and eat, hmm?" Blacky suggested.

Everyone hushed and enjoyed the rest of the fruit in silence. There was no more frenzies or fighting.

"Looks like we need to get more fruit," Bluey said when he finished off the rest of the grapes.

"Gah. That's it. I'm putting all of you on diets," said a frustrated Luigi. "Nah. That would never work."

"It's okay," Blacky tried to assure him. "We yoshis can fend for ourselves. After all, we've been doing it all this time without you."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple anymore. There's zookeepers around now. They'll catch you if you're not careful."

"I've got an idea," Mario piped up. "Everyone should go out and look for food in one group. With so many of us, the zookeepers won't be able to do much."

"Watch them shoot you again," Wario grinned.

"Quiet, you."

Everyone was okay with that idea. Mario emptied his back pack and the herd left the cave. Wario and Waluigi were still interested in finding treasure, but every time they tried to sneak off, one of the yoshis noticed and convinced them to stay. Luigi led everyone to many of the places he visited before. They picked lots of fruit and put them in the back packs.

"Let's check out my place," Purpley spoke up. "I think the berries there are ripe now."

While following the purple yoshi to where she lived, Luigi's attention was caught by a bright red thing at the top of a large tree. Without saying much, Luigi began to climb the tree. He climbed steadily, taking it one branch at a time. However, the tree was taller than he thought and he began to get tired. Luigi sat on a branch for awhile to regain some of his stamina, then he continued.

Over on the beach, the zookeepers for getting ready to make another attempt to catch a yoshi.

"Let's try a trap this time," Nicky proposed.

"Fine," Vicky said, wanting to get started already.

"But, wait a moment. We need to know what yoshis eat."

"Fair enough. Let's spy on them and see if we can figure out anything."

Back to Luigi, he had finally reached the top of the tree. What he found there was a fruit unlike any that he's seen before. It was shaped like a heart and, strangely, had a smiley face on it.

"Heart fruit," Luigi said to himself. "I've heard about these from Yoshi before. From what he told me, they're very hard to find and are the best-tasting of all fruits."

Luigi plucked the fruit and was about to put it in his back pack, but then he had second thoughts. He was curious about what the heart fruit was really like, so he kept it for himself by putting it in the pocket of his overalls. Then Luigi began to descend from the tree. Unfortunately, one of his feet slipped, causing him to plummet to the ground...

Luigi's friends were almost at Purpley's home when they heard the sound of Luigi screaming, shortly followed by a thump.

"What was that?" Purpley asked in alarm.

"It sounded like Luigi," Oshi shrugged. But...isn't he with us?"

"I think we accidentally left him behind. He must've needed to take a break," Bluey said thoughtfully.

"Aw shoot," Mario shook his head. "Better go back and find him."

Mario, Pinky and Yosheta backtracked and ran to where they thought the noise came from. They found Luigi laying face-down near the tree that he was in.

"Oh no," said a worried Pinky. "Did the zookeepers attack him?"

"It looks more like he had a fall," Mario said as he knelt down by Luigi and nudged him a bit, causing him to stir. "Are you okay, bro?"

"I think I have a collapsed lung..." Luigi answered in a daze. "The fruit is okay though, right?"

"Well, yeah. But couldn't you have landed on your butt instead? You always had such a handsome face, but now I think you might've ruined it!"

Pinky and Yosheta couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, if Purpley heard that!"

"What the heck were you doing anyway?" Mario asked.

"I climbed this tree right here because I saw an apple in it," Luigi lied. He didn't feel comfortable doing it, but if he mentioned the heart fruit to the yoshis, there was no doubt that there would be another frenzy and Luigi would lose his prize. "Then...well..."

"You fell?" Pinky guessed. "You really don't have good luck with trees, do you?"

"No. I suppose not. I should really stay out of them. Mind if I ride you for awhile?"

Pinky nodded and allowed Luigi to climb onto her back. Then she, Yosheta and Mario walk back the way they came to join the others.

None of them knew it, but the zookeepers happened to be nearby. They had also been attracted by Luigi's yelling.

"So yoshis are herbivores," Nicky stated. "Interesting. Most reptiles are carnivores."

"Works fine for us," said Vicky. "Should make it easy to find bait."

"Quite. There's plenty of fruit around here. We'll pick some, then set up the trap."

"Oh yeah. We're gonna get a yoshi this time. I'm sure of it."


	7. Rainy Day Stories

Chapter 7: Rainy Day Stories

At Purpley's home, a small group of trees in a clearing in the woods, the herd was busy picking the berries that grew in the treetops. Half of them were in the branches. They picked the berries and dropped them down to the other yoshis on the ground who caught them and put them in a pile. Wario and Waluigi watched them for awhile.

"Hey," Wario said to the yoshis. "Waluigi and I are gonna go see what happened to the other guys."

"Really?" Waluigi asked. "I think it'd be better i-"

"And by that, I mean we're gonna look for treasure," the fat man said in a low voice.

The Warios turned and were about to leave when Pinky, Yosheta and the Marios arrived.

"Never mind..." Waluigi frowned.

"Where were you at, Luigi?" Purpley asked. "You had me worried."

"I went back and grabbed some fruit that we missed," Luigi said as he got off Pinky's back. "I had a little trouble though."

"It was the zookeepers, wasn't it?" said Blacky, his tone sounding sort of angry.

"How dare they mess with you," Yellowy also seemed upset.

"Actually, no. Just a mistake on my part," Luigi tried to assure everyone.

Mario stared at the trees that Purpley and Oshi called home. He couldn't help but feel that something about the place seemed familiar. Suddenly, he felt something on his nose. He went to rub it when he felt it onh is left shoulder too. He was about to say something when he felt it in a few more places. He and everyone else looked around as drops of water fell from the sky. It was beginning to rain.

"Great. Looks like the treasure hunt is off," Wario grumped.

"Treasure?" asked Mario.

"Whoops. Did I say treasure? I meant fruit. The fruit hunt is off. Yes. That'll do," Wario chuckled at his fib.

"Don't worry, yellow Mario," Oshi said brightly. "There's so many berries here that we should have enough to last us for quite awhile."

"I see that. Good work, Oshi," Luigi smiled and pet Oshi, causing him to smile as well. He felt happy to help out Luigi and the herd.

"Let's go back to my cave, everybody," said Blacky. "We'll stay dry there."

Everyone turned and left. A few minutes later, the zookeepers walked into the clearing.

"So this must be the 'Purpley's home' that they were talking about," said Nicky. "It's sort of cute."

"Looks like a fine place to set the trap. So let's hurry up and do it," Vicky demanded.

Vicky and Nicky set up the net as quickly as possible. When they finished, they baited it with some grapes.

"Yes. This looks good," Nicky observed. "Now we'll catch a yoshi."

"We're gonna end up catching a cold instead if we don't get out of here soon. Come on!"

Meanwhile, Luigi's party have arrived at the cave. Something seemed a bit off though.

"Hmm," Blacky thought aloud. "It's usually not this dark in here. Not during daytime anyway."

"Don't worry. I'll fix that," Luigi said as he stumbled around in the darkness for a bit. He eventually found his flashlight and clicked it on.

"Whoa!" Redy exclaimed in surprise. "What's that?"

"It's a flashlight," the human answered. "We use it to light up dark places like this one."

"Is that thing safe?" asked Bluey.

"It's completely harmless. See?" Luigi put his free hand right over the light to demonstrate.

Oshi also poked the light with a finger. "That's really cool!"

"We're gonna be stuck in here for awhile, aren't we?" Purpley said gloomily as she looked at the rain outside the cave.

"I'll check," Mario replied as he put a hand outside for a couple of seconds, drenching it. "Yup."

"Tell us a story, Luigi," Yosheta pleaded. "How about when you beat Blacky?"

"A story? Bah," Waluigi said in disgust. "Wait. You beat up one of these guys? Do tell!"

"Well, alright," Luigi said, figuring that it would be a good way to kill time. "After staying with you guys for a few days, Blacky challenged me t-"

"Get to the point!" Waluigi blurted out.

Wario smacked his brother on the head. "Pipe down!" he scolded.

"You yoshis obviously know what tilting island fights are," Luigi continued. "As for the rest of you, I'll explain before I go on. Basically, the fight takes place an a small tilting island."

"Oh, you mean like in the Bombs Away game in the first two parties we had?" Mario asked.

"Yes. Exactly. Anyway, the object here was to knock your opponent off. Now let's se-"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Wario interrupted. "You mean like in the Smash Bros. Tournament? I loved watching that! Especially the part when Mario got a beatdown from that pink thing! You know, the one with the blade!"

"Pretty much. Now then..." Luigi trailed off a bit as he searched his memory for every detail of the battle. "I believe it went something like this. Blacky tired to headbutt me, but I dodged and punched him in the back. I ended up getting whipped by his tail when I did that. That kinda stung. Then he jumped and tried to Ground Pound me. He missed and I bit his neck."

"Bit? That's what you call that?" Blacky thought aloud, also remembering the fight.

"Blacky was about to try another Ground Pound, but I nailed him with a fireball before he could pull it off. Now here's the part that got me. We both tried to headbutt at the time. Very bad idea. We both got stunned. At least I think we did. I know that I did anyway. Before I could focus again, Blacky swallowed me and put me in an egg. You guys know how uncomfortable it is in one of those things? Wait. Of course you do. Yoshis start life in eggs, huh?"

Pinky giggled. "We sure did. But what about you? Don't humans come from eggs too?"

Luigi didn't plan on anybody asking that question and he certainly wasn't going to attempt to explain it either. "I'll get back to you on that. Well knowing that the egg I was in could easily roll right off the island, I did everything in my power to get out. Only to get flattened with a Ground Pound. So annoying. In fact, I was so annoyed that I used my Hyper Burn attack and set his tail ablaze."

"Hyper Burn?" Yosheta questioned, not knowing anything about the move. "What is it like?"

"It is a very powerful attack," Blacky said sternly. "Do not underestimate it."

"Big deal!" Waluigi scoffed. "Give me ten seconds with this guy and I'll show you that there's nothing to be scared of."

"Observe closely," Luigi smirked as he raised his arms and summoned some flames. Then he brought his arms forward in Waluigi's general direction.

"Aww...crap..." said a wide-eyed Waluigi when he saw what Luigi was doing.

Luigi hit Waluigi with a powerful beam of fire, causing him to scream in pain and run out of the cave. The yoshis, Mario and Wario quietly watched the scene in awe.

"That was amazing!" Bluey commended. "Such a display of strength!"

"Anyway, Blacky ran around out of control after that. Victory was as easy as giving him a good shove."

"Wonderful story!" Yosheta said as she clapped her hands. "It's no wonder you're the leader!"

"Hey, guys," Waluigi moaned as he returned to the cave. "The rain is coming down pretty hard. I can safely say that there is no way that the zookeepers can find us in this weather. I'm gonna lay down now." He fell to the ground and fainted.

Later on, Luigi told the yoshis more stories. Mario was nice enough to revive Waluigi. However, he strapped a pair of headphones on his head afterward so he didn't have to hear him complain. Waluigi was trying to convince himself that Mario did not just revive him. Wario was waiting for the rain to stop so he can, you guessed it, look for treasure.

"And so I chucked that veggie into the freaky frog's mouth once more," Luigi said during the climax of a story. "Wart choked on it and died. Who's the man now, Mario?"

"Oh yeah. This song is great," Mario wasn't paying any attention to Luigi.

Luigi became very annoyed. He yanked Mario's headphones off and slugged him in the arm as hard as he could. "What the heck, Mario? You didn't hear my story, did you?"

"The one about Wart? Big deal. Must I remind you that I could've easily dealt with him?"

"If that's the case, then why didn't you?"

"Whatever," the glory hog replied as he put his headphones back on.

"I don't care what he says," said Purpley. "I thought it was a neat story. By the sounds of it, you can beat up anyone."

"Well now...I couldn't possibly..." the modest hero said nervously.

"You got that right!" Oshi shouted. "I bet Luigi can beat up the zookeepers! That'd be cool!"

Luigi felt rather uncomfortable. "I seriously...doubt...that I could..."

"Relax," Blacky said and put a hand on Luigi's shoulder. "No need to get worked up."

"I just thought of something," Luigi changed the subject. "Does Yosheta have a dad? I was wondering because...well..."

"Of course she does," Pinky began. "He's a light blue yoshi. His name is Cyany, but since he is Bluey's younger brother, we had a habit of calling him Mini Bluey."

"Huh. So where is he?"

"Last we knew, he was looking for the legendary Super Happy Tree," said Bluey. "They say that it is somewhere in the mountains. You've heard of the Super Happy Tree before, haven't you?"

"Oh, sure. I think so," Luigi replied after giving it some thought. "Large tree, has a lot of different fruits on it? Yoshi mentioned it to me once or twice."

"That's what we heard anyway. Mini Bluey wanted his daughter to grow up happy and healthy so he decided to go into the mountains and bring back the tree,"

"He never came back," Pinky frowned.

"I would've been happier if he didn't go," Yosheta sighed. "I never even got to see him."

"How...lame, Waluigi commented, unable to find a better adjective.

"Hey, guys. Looks like the rain stopped," Wario pointed out.

"Ah. Oshi and I have been wanting to go for a walk," said Purpley. "We'll just go to our home and back."

"That's really too bad about Mini Bluey," Luigi said sympathetically. "Wish there was something I could do."

"Hey...uh..." Wario stammered. "Two of the yoshis just left. They said something about going back to their home. Just thought I'd say something since the zookeepers might be around and-"

"Zookeepers?" the leader of the yoshis cried in alarm as he looked around saw that Purpley and Oshi were gone. "Outta my way!"

At the home of Purpley and Oshi, it would appear that Luigi was too late. The pair were trapped in a net that hung from one of the tree branches. Luckily, Luigi arrived before anything else could happen.

"There you are," said a relieved Purpley. "We need a little help here. You see, there were some grapes here that we must've dropped. But when we went to pick them up, this thing came down on us."

"I think I hear something coming," Oshi worried.

"Darn zookeepers," Luigi said in disgust. "Hang on."

Luigi began to free the yoshis by carefully burning the ropes with a fireball. Oshi was able to get out with little trouble. However, the zookeepers showed up while Luigi was working on getting Purpley out.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Vicky threatened.

"Getting your stupid net out of the way," Luigi said, not too pleased with the humans. "I already told you that you can't have the yoshis."

"Now now. I'm sure we can come to some agreement," Nicky said in a weak attempt to haggle.

"I don't think so. I, Luigi Mario, will see to it that you never get them. Now get out of the way."

"Let's see you make us," Vicky stood her ground.

"I said get out of the way!" Luigi repeated as he called forth a fireball which he immediately threw at the zookeepers.

"Whoa!" Nicky was in absolute shock. "Fire! Flee!" He and Vicky took off before they could get burned.

"Hee hee. My hero," Purpley cooed gratefully as Luigi finished getting her free.

"We'd better get back to the cave," the man in green said sternly. "We won't be ambushed if we just stick together."

Luigi escorted his friends back to Blacky's cave where they and everyone else stayed put. They slept as usual when nightfall came along with more rain, but is the cave really as safe as Luigi thinks...?


	8. Hatching a Plan

Chapter 8: Hatching a Plan

Shortly after the herd went to sleep for the night, the zookeepers appeared again. They had followed Luigi to the cave and were now sizing up the situation.

"Look at this," said Vicky. "A comfy, cozy cave. This must be where they've been hiding all this time."

"Great!" Nicky exclaimed. "Let's go get ourselves a yoshi!"

"It's still raining, Nicky. If we try to drag a yoshi out of there, you know what's going to happen?"

Nicky didn't answer.

"I'll tell you what would happen! The rain will wake it right up and then that green guy will be all over us again!"

"For goodness sake. Every time we get close to getting a yoshi, you tell me that the plan won't work. How about thinking of one that will?"

"That does it. Back to the ship with you..." Vicky proceeded to grab Nicky by his shirt and drag him back to the shore.

"I'm telling mom on you!" Nicky sobbed.

Soon after the duo left, a pink reptilian creature climbed down from a nearby tree and ran into the cave.

"Oh no," it spoke in a feminine voice. "I have to tell someone about this. Hey, Mario. Wake up," it continued as it shook Mario in a vain attempt to awaken him.

Mario mumbled something about mushrooms, but otherwise gave no response.

"You were always quite the sleeper, weren't you? There's got to be something I can do. Aha!"

The creature spied Mario and Luigi's back packs. It searched Luigi's first and found his flashlight. After clicking it on, it noticed that Luigi's back pack also contained a pencil and some paper. Using these, it quickly jotted down a note and left it where it would be easily seen. Then it returned the items it used and left.

Mario was the first to wake up in the morning. He checked to see if anyone else was up when his gaze fell upon a letter that happened to be on the ground.

"What do we have here?" Mario thought as he picked it up and read it. "Mama mia! Luigi! Wake up!"

"The heck...?" Luigi uttered as he slowly awoke. "What's going on?"

"This is terrible. Take a look at this," Mario said, handing the letter to Luigi.

"Let's see now. 'Run! The zookeepers know where you are! Leave this place now!' Whaa..." Luigi stood there in shock, then he dropped the letter and passed out cold.

"Luigi! Luigi, get up!" Mario shouted and woke up everyone.

"What's with the screaming?" Wario moaned and shook his head.

"Luigi just fainted on me!" C'mon! Snap out of it!" Mario continued.

"Are you sure he isn't still sleeping?"

"Positive. He read this and passed right out," Mario picked up the letter and showed it to Wario.

The man in yellow quietly read it. "Well, I stand corrected."

"If I had known that people would be fainting so much, I would've brought some Life Shrooms," Mario sighed.

"Whahaha!" Waluigi chuckled. "Does this mean..."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Maybe," he replied while trying to hold back his laughter. However, the grin on his face revealed that he truly was enjoying it.

While Mario and Waluigi argued with each other. Purpley looked at her fallen friend. She thought of a course of action and took it. She kissed Luigi right on the nose.

Strangely, Luigi grunted and got on his feet. "Wow, Daisy. You sure know how to get me up, don't you?"

Purpley didn't quite know what Luigi meant, but she didn't mind.

"But seriously. Who wrote that letter? I wanna smash someone," Luigi grabbed the letter and looked at it again. "Oh, that's just great. No signature. Just a picture of a bow."

"I wonder. Could it be Lady Bow?" Mario suggested. "I bet she'd make a good spy. Being a ghost and all."

"Gho-gho-ghost?" Luigi shuddered. Just the mere mention of ghosts made him feel uneasy.

"Probably not, huh?"

"Whoever it is, they want me to meet them at the beach," Luigi said after reading the rest of the letter. "I suppose I don't have much of a choice."

After eating a quick breakfast, Luigi and the herd set out for the beach to figure out who had written the cryptic letter. However, the beach appeared to be empty aside from a seagull or two.

"It would've been nice if they were a little more specific," said a confused Mario. "The beach is pretty wide."

"Wait a minute," Waluigi pointed toward a palm tree. "Is that Birdo over there?"

Waluigi was correct. The pink creature that had visited last night was patiently waiting near a palm tree. It looked much like a yoshi, but with a few differences. The most obvious being that it had a large snout that took up most of its face.

Birdo noticed the herd and signaled for them to come to her. "Over here, fellas!"

"Was it you?" Luigi spoke to her. "Were you the one that left that nasty letter?"

"Indeed I am. Sorry to alarm you, but there's some stuff that I need to tell you about the zookeepers."

"Is that so? Give me all the dirt."

"Alright. First, follow me. There's something I must show you."

Birdo led Luigi and company down the shoreline to a different area of the beach. As a matter of fact, it was the area where Wario left his ship.

"Oh, big deal," Wario scoffed. "That's just my ship over there. I should be the one showing it off, not you!"

"No no, Blubber Buns. There's another one right over here," Birdo replied.

Everyone continued to follow Birdo several yards to where another ship was. This one was blueish gray and had many small cages on the deck. Luigi fumed when he saw it.

"Why...those..." the leader said through gritted teeth. "Those nimrods followed us! I've seen that ship before!"

"Oh dear. You have?" asked Birdo.

"Affirmative," Mario confirmed. "We saw it on the way here. We all thought it was a fishing boat though."

"Hey Luigi," Oshi piped up. "Is that the pink thing you and Mario beat up?"

"Watch your tongue, yoshi," an offended Birdo warned. "I can have a bit of a temper. Anyway, I have a plan that can get rid those zookeepers."

"Tell us! Tell us!" the herd pleaded.

"I recently heard that Nicky wants to get his hands on an egg so he can hatch a yoshi."

"If I had an egg, I sure wouldn't give it to those creeps," Purpley huffed.

"Neither would I," Pinky agreed.

"Hold on now," Birdo continued. "Apparently these goofball brothers told you about me, so you are no doubt aware that I can spit up eggs. We'll just pass one of my eggs off as one of yours. That should make them happy and leave."

"That's a good point," our hero said. "I think you're onto something."

"They don't know what yoshi eggs look like, so I'm sure it'll work. Okay then. In order to pull this off, we'll need a girl yoshi and a human. Any volunteers?"

Wanting to help Luigi and the rest of the herd, Purpley stepped up. Mario offered his help.

"Alright," Birdo began to explain the plan. "First, you two need to find a place that looks like it's suitable for hatching an egg. No enclosed places like that cave, but nothing right out in the open either."

"Use my home," Pinky suggested. "It worked great when we hatched Yosheta. It's a bunch of ferns that's right near the water hole."

"That should be fine. Purple yoshi, your job to be with the egg. The zookeepers probably won't take it if they don't know it's from a yoshi. When they find you, get out of there immediately. Mario, it's up to you to make sure that nothing happens to her. Just stay hidden until the time comes. Afterward, both of you come back here. Got all that?"

"Sure thing," Purpley said, happy to help.

"It'll be piece of cake," boasted Mario.

With the plan established, it was time to put it into action. Birdo looked at the ground and carefully released an egg from her snout. Mario picked it up and then, with a quick wave to everyone, headed into the forest with Purpley. Pinky's home, true to her word, was simply a large patch of fern plants which was, indeed, a nice nest. Mario placed the egg on the ferns, then Purpley sat on it. Mario ducked in a bush.

Purpley felt a bit nervous after some time. She was alone in the forest with only Mario for protection. Suddenly, she smiled and began to sing something in the yoshi language.

Meanwhile, the zookeepers had been wandering around in the woods aimlessly after discovering that no one was in Blacky's cave.

"That's just great," Vicky grumbled. "How'd they know to get out of there before we got back?"

Nicky didn't answer. He noticed some strange noises that is actually Purpley's singing. He decided to investigate without even telling Vicky first.

"Where do you think you're going?! Hey-!" she grunted when her brother suddenly stopped, causing her to run right into him.

Nicky held a finger to his lips to silence Vicky, then spread a couple of bushes apart and saw Purpley sitting all by herself and singing like nothing was wrong.

Vicky's eyes grew wide with surprise, then narrow as she contemplates on what to do. "Shoot it," she quietly commanded.

Purpley sensed that danger was near and fled to where Mario was. They were able to get away before anything could happen. Only the egg remained.

"Look!" Vicky gasped. "An egg!"

"Perfect!" Nicky replied with glee. "That's just what I was looking for. Let's take it back to the zoo and hatch it."

Mario and Purpley high-tailed it to the beach where they were just in time to hear Luigi make an announcement. After the zookeepers left, he was going into the mountains to find Mini Bluey!

"We never go that far," Bluey protested. "It's dangerous. You might get hurt."

"Did they fall for it?" Birdo asked Mario when he got back.

"They sure did," he answered. "Thanks for the help. Luigi and I came out here to spend time with the herd, but it's kinda hard to do that with those jerks in the way."

"There's one thing I don't get," said Luigi. "What were you doing here in the first place?"

"Don't you know?" Birdo giggled and fluttered her eyelashes. "I'm a big fan of yoshis, so I decided to take a vacation here for while. I'd like to help you find the one in the mountains. If that's okay, of course."

"Uh oh!" Yosheta suddenly cried out. "The zookeepers are coming! Hide!"

Everyone quickly found safe places to hide as Vicky and Nicky casually walk down the beach. Luigi was happy to see Nicky holding Birdo's egg.

"I told you it would be much easier to steal an egg than to catch a yoshi," Nicky bragged.

"Oh, shut up," his sister scowled. "Let's get out of here before that guy sees us with the egg and fries us."

The duo get on their ship and were about to leave when suddenly there was a dull thud, followed by a small explosion.

"Hey guys," Birdo said in disappointment. "I suggest you pack your bags and head to the nearest mountain."

"Why is that?" asked a confused Luigi.

"My plan turned out to be a bit of a dud..."


	9. Migration

Chapter 9: Migration

After Birdo's plan backfired, Luigi and the herd were back on square one. They decided to regroup at Blacky's cave for a moment.

"What do you mean we gotta pack up and go?" asked Waluigi. "I thought everything was fine."

"I already told you!" Birdo snapped. "Nicky dropped the egg and it exploded. Darn it, Waluigi. Don't you listen to anyone?"

"Yeah. Of course. His name is Wario."

"Hey. Don't drag me into this," Wario was in a pretty bad mood. During all the time he's been on the island so far, he hasn't found a hint of treasure.

"What's going to happen now?" Yellowy asked his father.

"I don't know," Bluey sighed.

"Don't worry," Redy tried to assure the two. "Luigi will know what to do."

"Leave Luigi alone," said Mario. "He's already a nervous wreck."

Mario was absolutely right. Luigi was cowering in the back of the cave and shaking with frustration.

"All I know is that we can't stay here for long," Birdo told everyone. "There must be some place we can go."

"I might have an idea," Mario mused. "According to something I read, there's a certain kind of bird that goes into the mountains when it's being chased and the foe ends up getting lost. I suppose we could try that. What do you think, Luigi?"

Luigi didn't say a word. He just gave Mario an annoyed look that made him feel uneasy.

"On second thought. It might be a Pokémon that does that. It's a Pokémon, isn't it? Um... Forget I said anything."

"Please focus on the problem here, Mario," Birdo said flatly.

"Yeah. My dad is stuck in the mountains," Yosheta frowned.

"Yosheta, it's not safe," said her worried mother. "We can't just rush over there."

It seemed like every time Yosheta spoke lately, Luigi felt a pang of sadness. Now more than ever, he wanted to help her and the rest of the herd. The hero picked himself off the ground and cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"As the leader..." he began. "I've decided that we migrate into the mountains and try to find Yosheta's father. We shouldn't have anything to worry about if we all stick together. Hopefully we can also ditch the zookeepers and they'll leave us alone."

"Right," Blacky nodded in agreement. "I suppose that for now, we'd better eat up and get some rest before setting out."

Everyone decided to follow Blacky's advice. The yoshis dined on the last of the fruit while the humans ate some of the food that they had brought from home. Mario was about to bite into one of his cookies when he noticed Yellowy. His color gave Mario an idea.

"Say, Yellowy," Mario said to him. "I heard that yellow yoshis love to eat."

"Well, of course," he answered. "Who doesn't?"

"Good point. I was just wondering if you were interested in this," Mario continued as he held out a cookie for Yellowy.

The yoshi sniffed at it curiously. "Mmm, it sure smells nice. Are you sure I can have it?"

"Go right ahead. I've got a few more."

Yellowy extended his tongue and grabbed the cookie. He moaned with pleasure as he kept it in his mouth and savored the sweet taste.

"Thank you!" he said happily after swallowing. "I never had anything like that before. I suppose the closest thing would be a heart fruit. Speaking of that, I've been smelling one around here lately. I'm sure that if you Ground Pound in just the right spot somewhere, it'll pop right up. You should give it a try."

Luigi had been quietly resting in a corner with his eyes closed. They shot open when he overheard Yellowy's comment, but he said nothing.

"A secret, huh?" Mario thought to himself. "Interesting. How many yellow yoshis have I done that little trick with now? Three, I think?"

"If you want something really good, you oughta try this," Wario butted in and handed Yellowy a clove of garlic.

Yellowy was repulsed by the scent of it. "That doesn't look very yummy at all."

"Just give it a try," Wario forced the garlic into the unsuspecting yoshi's mouth.

"Bleh! Yuck!" Yellowy gagged. "Gross! Luigi! Yellow Mario just made me eat something yucky!"

Luigi was still trying to relax and didn't enjoy being bothered with something so silly. "Now that's just rotten. How would you like it if I slam-dunked a grapefruit in your mouth?"

"Yeah. Keep the nasty stuff to yourself, Wario," Mario added.

"Would you like some of this awesome eggplant?" Waluigi asked Purpley just for kicks. "It's purple like you."

"Go away," she said without even thinking about it.

After they ate, everyone settled down for awhile. Luigi was fast asleep. Mario listened to one of his CDs. Birdo kept a watchful eye outside the cave. As for Wario and Waluigi...

"This sucks," Waluigi said unhappily. "We've been out here for a few days already and no treasure yet. And there's no doubt that Luigi expects us to go with him to the mountains."

"I'm not too worried actually," Wario seemed strangely calm.

"How do you figure?"

"Well, you usually find jewels in mountains anyway. Not in forests. If we can just get away from Mr. Yoshi Leader here, we'll be in treasure town in no time."

"Yo, dudes," Mario said with his headphones still on. "You're crampin' my style. Go make yourselves useful and get some fruit."

"I ain't cramping nothing," Waluigi grunted.

Wario nudged him in the stomach with his elbow. "Oh, shut up. This is our chance. Let's go."

He grabbed a couple of sacks from his suitcase and tossed one to Waluigi. Both of them leave.

At around this time in Sarasaland, Daisy walked around in her castle aimlessly when she suddenly wondered if Luigi had returned from Yoshi's Island yet. Eager to find out, she picked up a nearby phone and dialed his number.

On the other end, the phone rang four times before being picked up.

"Hey there, sug-" Daisy began.

"You've reached the Mario Bros. residence," said a voice that sounded like Luigi. It is, of course, only an answer machine recording. "Mario is too lazy to pick up the phone right now."

"What do you mean I'm lazy?" Mario retorted. "You're the one that plays games all day, every day."

"Oh yeah? Well, why didn't you pick it up then?"

"I told you to do it!"

"Look, neither of us can get the phone right now. Just leave a message and hopefully Mario will call you back."

"What's that supposed to mean? Oh, for goodness sake. Just leave the message already!"

"Nice one, guys!" Daisy shouted after the recording was over. "Luigi, call me back when you get your butt home! You know who this is!"

Daisy slammed the phone down, but then her rage suddenly faded and she regret what she just did. She decided to wait a few more days as Luigi did seem to be attached to the yoshis...


	10. Mario's Unexpected Trip

Chapter 10: Mario's Unexpected Trip

"Let's go, guys. We can't afford to stay here any longer," Luigi said sternly. The leader of the yoshis was finding it difficult to relax when danger could come any moment.

"Hold on now," Birdo piped up. "Where's Wario and Waluigi?"

"Eh, don't worry about them," Mario answered.

Luigi sighed in frustration. "Ugh. It's just like them to run off."

Purpley looked at him adoringly, the way she often did. "How does he manage to be so cute, even when he's mad?"

"I wouldn't say he looks cute right now," Pinky replied. "But that expression does look good on him."

"You two think Luigi is cute?" Birdo said with a giggle. She was completely unaware of Purpley's obsession with him.

Over at the beach, the zookeepers were quietly making repairs on their ship. Birdo's explosive egg had caused considerable damage to it.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" Nicky spoke, breaking the awkward silence.

"You nincompoop!" growled Vicky. "You wrecked everything! As soon as we finish up here, we're going back to that cave and try again. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, sister," Nicky moaned.

Back with the herd, they were just leaving Blacky's cave when Wario and Waluigi showed up. As usual, they returned without finding a single coin.

"There you are, idiots," Luigi said as he folded his arms and tapped his foot. "I hope you've got a good excuse for making us wait for so long."

"Well...you see..." Waluigi stuttered as he tried to find a way to spare himself from a possible beating.

"We got lost a couple of times," Wario said quickly. "But look. I got you some fruit. See?"

Luigi inspected the contents of Wario's sack and saw that he wasn't lying. "Good. Grab your belongings and follow us. We'll be heading this way," Luigi and the herd began walking along a trail that lead straight toward the mountain.

"Why is Luigi being such a tightwad?" asked Birdo. "Isn't Mario the leader?"

"No!" Purpley snapped. "What made you think that?"

"Sheesh. Sorry I asked."

"Keep it down, ladies," Luigi chuckled and stopped walking for a moment. "We don't need any catfights now."

"Catfight? What's a catfight?" Oshi asked, a little confused.

"It's when two girls fight!" Wario shouted when he and Waluigi caught up. "It's usually over stupid stuff like make-up or something."

Waluigi laughed as Wario hissed and pretended to scratch something.

"Oh, really? How do you know so much about the opposite gender?" Mario remarked. "If I recall, you believed in cooties until you were-"

"Uh, hey. I think I hear the zookeepers coming," the rival interrupted. "Better get a move on, eh?"

Everyone went with Wario's advice and continued the trek up the mountain. Not long afterward, somebody was already finding the journey less than exciting. That somebody was Mario.

"Well, this is boring," he said in a bit of a snooty tone. "I was expecting something more exciting like, say, Tall Tall Mountain or something."

"Dude, we just got started!" Luigi snapped. "Keep your hat on, alright?"

"Say what?" Mario shouted back. "At least I don't keep a stupid dairy or anything!"

"I dunno. I think that Plumber's Log of yours qualifies as one!"

Wario and Waluigi snickered during the argument, but now they simply couldn't hold back their laughter any longer.

"Oh great," the man in green complained. "Now look what you did. You set them off!"

"I set them off? You're the one th-"

"Stop it!" Birdo yelled in an attempt to get the brothers to back down. "You two sound like children! Talk about the darn diary later, okay?"

"Yeah, Luigi. Talk about it later," Mario said with an insincere smile. "We have to worry about the yoshis, you know."

Luigi wasn't too happy with Mario now. In fact, he was so angry that he attacked him with a Super Jump Punch. He was able to hit the sweet spot, causing Mario to catch on fire and go flying clear over the horizon.

"Whoa!" cried Purpley. "That was awesome!"

"Eep," Luigi said meekly as he stared that the hand he just punched Mario with. Apparently, even he was surprised by his power.

"You wouldn't think about punching me like that, would you?" his rival asked nervously.

"No, Waluigi. Not unless you majorly ticked me off like he did. Actually, that was not my intention at all. I suppose we have to find him n-"

"Prepare for trouble!" said a certain voice.

"And make it double!" followed another familiar voice.

The zookeepers popped out of a nearby bush, but something about them didn't seem right. They wore different uniforms than usual. Vicky's hair was red and she wore contact lens so her eyes appeared blue. Nicky's eyes were now green and he seemed to be wearing a purple wig.

"To protect the world from devastation!" Vicky continued.

Luigi just looked at them in utter confusion. "What are you trying to pull here?" he asked.

"We just want to swipe your Pokémon," Nicky answered. "Wait a second. I thought we wanted his yoshis."

"We _do_ want his yoshis. So what are we doing then?"

"Don't ask me! You were supposed to take care of uniforms today!"

"You are such a nincompoop!"

"Um...what are you guys doing?" Yosheta questioned. She's as confused as Luigi.

"Could you give us a moment?" Nicky said politely. "This could take awhile," Then he continued to argue with his sister.

"Well, if you insist," the leader said as he and the rest of the herd slowly back away.

By the time the siblings finally stopped fighting, everyone was long gone. They didn't realize this, however...

"Okay. I'm ready," Vicky cleared her throat. "Give us those yoshis or I'll use this new stink bomb on you! It's sure to... Wha?"

"Hey! Those cowards ran away!"

"Like you're one to talk!" shouted Vicky, causing another argument to start...


	11. A Fishy New Friend

Chapter 11: A Fishy New Friend

After their lucky escape from the zookeepers, Luigi and friends continue to hike up the mountain. Unfortunately, because Luigi sent Mario flying awhile ago, they had to keep an eye out for him as well as for Yosheta's missing father.

"That fire attack was really cool," Oshi spoke, breaking the silence. "What's your secret?"

"Internal fire glands?" Waluigi joked. "That's gotta be it."

"Ha ha. Very funny, Waluigi," said Luigi, not too thrilled with what had been happening lately.

"I know I don't talk a whole lot," said Redy, who really wasn't a big talker. "But why don't you do that to the zookeepers?"

"Yeah. I don't get it," Orangey agreed.

"I'm trying to get you guys to safety," the leader replied. "Randomly frying people isn't going to help me accomplish that. What? You guys like it when I roast someone?"

"Sure," said Pinky. "I don't see why not."

"Of course," Bluey nodded.

"No," Waluigi blurted out. "Well, not when I'm the one that's roasted anyway."

"Alright then," Luigi went on. "If we find Mario and Mini Bluey, I'll see if I can do something about those bumbling buffoons. Meanwhile, all we can really do is run. Let's keep moving, shall we?"

Everyone agreed with Luigi's little proposal and continued to follow him. Sometime later, they stumble upon a fairly high ledge.

"Hmm..." Luigi pondered aloud as he inspects it. "I hope all of us can climb this."

Yoshis are known to be good jumpers and the cliff proved to be a cinch for them. Except for one.

"It's a bit too high," Blacky groaned. "I think I'm getting too old for this."

"Nonsense. You don't look that old," the man in green tried to assure him. "But if you really don't think you can make it, then let me give this a try. Just hold still for a moment."

Luigi took a hold of Blacky's tail, then he swung him around in a few great circles before launching him. Luigi wasn't actually very good at throwing things this way, but Blacky landed at the top completely unharmed. Then Luigi went ahead and did the same to Birdo, thinking that she needed assistance as well.

"Urf!" she grunted after a rough landing. "Watch the lift-off, will you?!"

"Well?" Luigi looked at Wario and Waluigi who made no attempt to climb the cliff.

"Yeah. About that," Waluigi nervously tried to explain. "Wario and I were planning on taking a different route. We'll catch up with you later."

"No, you two. We really need to stay together."

"Hey! I have rights, you know!" Wario bellowed. "I don't have to follow a dork like you around if I don't want to!"

"But what about the yoshi's rights? Like their right to be free?"

"Sorry, pal, but that's your problem. Not mine."

Tired of Wario and Walugi's lollygagging, Luigi summoned a fireball and threw it at them without saying a word.

"Okay okay!" Luigi's rival shouted with fear. "We'll come! Just don't do that again!"

"That's better. I want to at least find Mario before sundown," Luigi said as the two humans came up to join the yoshis. "He can't be too happy about what I did."

After climbing the cliff himself, Luigi and the herd follow the winding mountain trail once more. About an hour later, fatigue began to set in and everyone decided to take a short break. The yoshis ate some of the fruit that Wario had in one of his sacks while Luigi enjoyed a soda pop that he had in his back pack.

Oshi eyed his friend curiously as he drank. "What are you doing?"

"Drinking some soda," he replied, handing the bottle to him "You want some? It's almost empty,"

Oshi looked at the bottle for awhile, then tried to drink from it like Luigi did. His large nose got in the way a bit though. Instead, he tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and poured the contents in.

"How do you like it?" the human asked.

"Tastes kinda funny," Oshi said after swallowing.

"Huh. That was orange soda. I guess it's just because you're not used to carbonated beverages."

"Probably. Whatever that is."

Wario and Waluigi decided to take a moment to check out a nearby lake before Luigi made them keep going with the rest of the herd.

"You think there's anything around here?" Waluigi asked as he skipped a stone across the lake.

"Sure," Wario answered, slipping into the lake and swimming a few strokes. "People sink treasure in lakes and such all the time. Makes it hard to find. It's almost a cliché really."

Luigi figured that it was time to hit the road again. "Okay, guys. Better get moving. Where is Wario and Waluigi?"

"I saw them go that way," Yellowy pointed toward the lake.

Luigi and the herd walk a short distance to the lake where Waluigi was standing on the shore, unsure of what to do. Wario is nowhere in sight.

"Hey, Luigi! Help me out here! I think Wario is stuck down there!" Waluigi actually seems worried for once.

Before Luigi could ask what was going on, Wario got out of the water and high-tailed it down the trail that Luigi just took.

"Yeah, you better run!" a grouchy voice called after him. "I don't know what kind of jerk attacks fish that mind their own business. But you, sir, have problems!"

Everyone looked at the lake where the voice came from and saw a purple Cheep Cheep that clearly wasn't happy. Wario probably thought that it was protecting treasure and attacked it.

"Do any of you know that guy?!" the Cheep Cheep questioned.

"Yeah. He's sort of an acquaintance..." Luigi said meekly.

"Hmm. You look a bit familiar," the fish said and swam up to Luigi. "Green hat. Large nose. You're Mario's brother, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Sure. And you are...?"

"The name's Sushie. You remember me, right? I'm Mario's swimming buddy."

Luigi had to think for a moment. During Mario's last adventure, he visited Luigi at home every so often and it seemed like he had a new friend in tow each time. Sushie was one of these allies.

"Ah. I remember now. What brings you here?"

"I got a report about you and a bunch of yoshis in trouble here. I'm just heeding the call."

"Cool. But how did you know about that?"

"Oh, that would be me," Birdo spoke up. "I forgot to mention it, but I had a Paratroopa take a letter to Lavalava Island. I was hoping I'd get a fast enough response."

"Well, I certainly got the message," said Sushie. "So tell me, what's the matter?"

Luigi told the fishy friend about what had been happening during the past few days. He told her everything. From when he came to the island to visit, all the way up to him accidentally knocking Mario somewhere. Sushie listened carefully. She was in tears by the time he finished.

"That's just terrible," she sobbed. "Why do people insist on doing such horrible things? I mean, I guess I could understand. These guys are just so cute."

"Yeah. They are, huh?"

"I don't think I've ever seen a sea-green yoshi before," Sushie said as she looked at each of the yoshis. "Such coloring. Don't black yoshis usually hang out in dark places? Wow..."

"Yeah. They're sure something, aren't they?" Luigi nodded.

"There's one thing I don't quite get about the story though. How did you become the leader of the herd?"

"It's simple really," said Blacky, the former leader. "I challenged him to a courtship fight and lost."

"Is that so? Well, I suppose if that's the case, then that's alright. Anyway, I'd like to see a happy end to this story, so... Da-da-dum-da-dum! Sushie has joined the party!"

Everyone just gazed around in confusion. They didn't quite know what to think.

"You...joined the party?" Waluigi questioned as he scratched one of his pointy ears.

"Sure. Look, at where I come from, Lavalava Island, I help take care of yoshis. So I feel that it's my duty to help you here."

"Well, that's fine by me," Luigi extended a hand. "Welcome aboard."

"Great!" Sushie shook Luigi's hand with one of her fins. "Let's get started!"

"How about we do it tomorrow?" the leader asked as he noticed the setting sun.

It would appear that a combination of running for their lives and getting to know a new friend made time seem to pass quicker than usual. Everyone including the new recruit, Sushie, found a crevice to sleep in overnight.

Elsewhere on the mountain, Mario was rather annoyed about what Luigi did to him. Knowing that he wasn't coming soon, he made a campfire for himself using a fire flower.

"Great," he said aloud. "I guess that brother of mine doesn't have a sense of humor. Sheesh. Was punching me like that really necessary? I still feel that. Ugh..."

Mario was just about to lie down when he heard a twig snap.

"Is that you, Luigi? Wait! Not you! Arrrrrrgh!"


	12. Luigi's Breakdown

Chapter 12: Luigi's Breakdown

The next morning came bright and early. Luigi was a bit restless, however. The crevice proved to be rather uncomfortable compared to Blacky's cave. To make matters worse, he worried about Mario and the safety of his friends. He tried to go back to sleep when his stomach growled. So instead, he dug into a bag of potato chips that he brought along while he quietly watched the sunrise.

Eventually, one of the yoshis broke the silence. "Are you okay?"

"Just a little tired, Pinky," Luigi replied. "If you're hungry, I think there's still some fruit in the sack Wario brought."

Pinky nodded and helped herself to some apples. She noticed that the leader didn't seem to he his usual self. He mentioned that he was tired and it sure looked like he was.

After awhile, the rest of the herd woke up and ate the fruit that Wario gathered the previous day. When they finished, they immediately left and continued up the trail in the hopes that they would find Mario or perhaps even Mini Bluey.

Wario was still upset about what happened yesterday. "Hey, Luigi. I need to have a word with you about that new buddy of yours."

Luigi looked back and saw Sushie bouncing along the path and doing her best to keep up. She is much more agile in the water than on land. She didn't bother Luigi one bit though.

"What seems to be the problem?" asked Luigi.

"I don't trust it," the bulky man replied. "I don't like anything that keeps me from getting treasure."

Sushie is completely confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Like you don't know. Purple is the color of pirates!"

"That's royalty, you fool!" Birdo shouted, throwing in her two cents. "That's what they say anyway. Of course, you know me. I prefer pink."

"Look, Wario. If you don't like Sushie, that's too bad," Luigi concluded.

Luigi's party pressed on. They had no idea where they were going, but they knew that they had to keep moving, lest they get attacked and captured by the zookeepers.

"Wait up, Luigi," Blacky panted. "I'm not as fast as I used to be."

Luigi paused for a moment to catch his breath. "Sorry, but we can't stay in one place for too long."

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound, as if a rock slide was coming. Yosheta's eyes grew wide with fear as a particularly large rock came hurtling towards her!

"Look out!" Luigi gasped as he tackled Yosheta moments before the rock landed right where she stood.

"Whoa! Are you alright?" her mother asked.

Yosheta was surprised by the close call and couldn't speak. Her expression said it all. She was in shock.

"Where did that come from?" Luigi said angrily as he looked at the rock. "Is this some sort of trap?"

"Strange," Sushie mused, also looking at the rock. "It sort of looks like Mario."

It did, indeed, resemble Mario. To be more exact, it appeared to be Mario in a protective stance. Nobody knew what to make of it.

"Hey. There you are, Luigi," The rock actually spoke in Mario's voice!

Now Luigi is as shocked as poor Yosheta was. "Ma-Mario?"

"Yeah. It's me. Sushie? What are you doing here?"

"I've come to help Luigi here with the yoshis," the fish answered. "Say, did you put a stone cap on?"

"I was getting to that. Luigi, remember the storm last year and how I tried to save you with the metal cap?"

"Well, yeah. Can't forget about something like that very easily."

"I had the feeling that it might happen again, so I packed a metal cap. I thought I did anyway. The zookeepers ambushed me last night. I wanted to fight them off with metal power, but...well..."

"It was actually a stone cap and now you can't move," Sushie finished for him.

"Exactly."

"Haha. Oh, wow," Waluigi laughed. "That sucks. But if you can't move, then is it that you can still talk?"

Mario thought for a few seconds. "I'll get back to you on that one. Anyway, the zookeepers are probably still nearby. I recall they mentioned wanting 'the pink one with the bow.'"

Birdo looked around nervously. None of the yoshis wore a bow, but she did.

"So you know what you must do now, right?" the immobilized brother went on. "You must leave this place."

"Bu-but..." Luigi stammered, not wanting to leave his brother so soon after finding him.

"Go on. Leave. I'll catch up in a bit."

"You'd better do as he says," Sushie insisted. "I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

"Go, green one. Just keep a calm mind and you'll be fine. Now go!"

With no other option, Luigi and friends leave Mario behind and continue on their way. They eventually found a small patch of watermelons which the yoshis began to help themselves to. While they forged, Luigi seated himself on a nearby rock and stared into space.

"You must leave this place," the worried hero cryptically repeated what Mario said. "Go on. Leave. Go, green one."

"Luigi? Are you okay?" Purpley asked when she overheard what he said.

"Just keep a calm mind and you'll be fine. Now go. Oh, Mario..." Luigi finished as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Knowing that something was very wrong, Purpley got Blacky to see if there was anything he could do.

"Listen, Luigi," the black yoshi spoke firmly. "As the elder, I feel that it's my duty to help everyone. That includes the leader. Now, tell me what's wrong."

"The...the zookeepers are trying to catch you." Luigi sobbed. "And now Mario is gone and...and...and..."

By now, all the yoshis stopped eating and tried to figure out what the matter was.

"I think I know what pity is now," said Wario, who usually only cared about himself.

"Y-You know this is m-my fault, right?" If I n-never came here t-to begin with, th-the zookeepers wouldn't have fo-followed us and start th-this..." Luigi then buried his face in his gloved hands and cried more.

"Hey. Settle down," said Sushie.

"We'll be fine. Hopefully," Birdo chimed in.

"N-now you g-guys are in trouble and...I-I-I don't know what to d-do..."

"Geez. Pull yourself together, man," Waluigi muttered. It's difficult to tell what he thinks of the situation.

"You know what my mama always said at times like this?" Yosheta said in her usual quiet voice. "You should take a nap if you're feeling tired, sad or weak."

"It's true, you know," Pinky added. "You really should lie down right now."

Blacky agreed. "Yes. I suggest you settle down over there and get some rest." He pointed to a some-what flat area.

Luigi's emotions were out of control, but he decided that it probably would be best if he took a moment to relax and perhaps clear his head. He flopped onto his belly and continues to sob.

"That looks kinda uncomfortable," the man in yellow said as he turned Luigi over so he was on his back. "Here, I'll even throw in one of my sacks. Probably not the best blanket, but it beats nothing."

"Gr...grazie..."

Purpley and Oshi decided to stick by Luigi and comfort him. Oshi allowed his idol to use him as a pillow while Purpley snuggled up on his left side. After about a minute, she rested her head on his chest. She seemed to be quite fond of this position.

Luigi felt better knowing the yoshis cared about him so much. Of course, this is how they became such good friends to begin with. Soon enough, he was fast asleep.

Relieved that their friend was getting a much needed rest, the yoshis continued munching on the watermelons. Wario even grabbed one for Waluigi and himself. He smashed it open with a powerful punch.

"Do you think Luigi will be okay?" Pinky spoke quietly as she ate.

"I'm sure he will," Blacky replied. "The poor guy is a bit overworked. That's all."

"I really hope so. I'm so worried about him and Mini Bluey."

After their meal, everyone decided to do like Luigi and rest up. It wasn't long before Sushie noticed something moving in the distance.

"Heads up, everyone!" Sushie commanded. "Something's coming up the mountain toward us!"

The yoshis' eyes shot open in alarm. Some got up to have a look while others wondered what to do. Purpley considered waking up Luigi, but decided not to. Redy seemed to be panicking the most. He leaned over a cliff to see what was going on.

"I don't see anything," he said. "Where is it?"

"Red yoshi! Get away from there!" Birdo warned.

It was too late. Redy leaned too far over and fell. Luckily he did not fall far, as it would appear that the newcomer was none other than Mario. He just so happened to be right below the cliff, so he caught the yoshi easily.

"Lose someone?" the famous hero asked as he helped Redy return to the rest of the herd.

"Well! I thought so anyway!" said a relieved Sushie. "What took you?"

"I already told you guys. I used the wrong cap. And to think I wasted thirty coins on that."

"I'll say. What a rip off," Wario scoffed.

"Shoot. You're lucky I came just in time to save you, Redy. That tumble could've hurt big time. Where's Luigi anyway? He's supposed to keep you guys from doing stunts like that."

"He's sleeping over there," Pinky answered as she pointed to Luigi, still sound asleep.

"What? That slacker!" Mario shouted, obviously unaware of Luigi's nervous breakdown.

"No, Mario! Don't wake him up!" Yosheta pleaded.

Mario stomped toward Luigi and shoved Purpley off him. Then he proceeded to slap his brother across the face repeatedly.

"Ow! What are you doing?" Luigi yelled groggily.

"Trying to get your lazy butt up! That's what!"

"Hey! I'm the leader here and don't you forget it!" Clearly Luigi isn't feeling much better than before his nap.

"Some leader you are! Don't you know what happened to Redy? You almost lost him!"

"Oh, shut up! Don't even pull any more of that wise crap again! How would you like a Hyper Burn, little man?"

"Let's see you do it before I Freeze Blast you first!"

"That's quite enough, guys!" Birdo screamed as she jumped between the enraged siblings. "Stop this now!"

"Back off, Birdo!" Mario demanded.

"Do as he says!" Luigi added. "Things are gonna get rough..."


	13. Yoshinapped

Chapter 13: Yoshinapped

Things aren't gong well right now. Mario and Luigi look like they're about to attack each other and nobody can figure out a way to stop the squabble. Can anything be done?

"Boy, Luigi looks tough," Purpley thought aloud. "I think I can see fire in his eyes."

"I knew a nap would help him out," said Pinky. "But I don't get it. What's Mario's problem?"

"The problem is he's a mean little piece of pork," Wario grinned.

"You guys need to stop this childish fighting right now!" Birdo shouted, still trying to get the brothers to settle down.

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Luigi growled. "But maybe a fireball in the rear end will fix it."

"Do your worst, punk," Mario retorted. "You think I'm afraid of you?"

"Stop this at once!" Birdo once again tried to separate Mario and Luigi, but it was no use.

"C'mon! Launch some attacks already!" shouted Waluigi, who took great delight in seeing the two argue.

However, before anything else could happen, there was a violent explosion and the entire area was cloaked in smoke.

"Oh, what now, Mario?" Luigi said accusingly.

"That wasn't me! Honest!"

While everyone was struggling to see, there was some sinister laughter. When the smoke finally cleared, the cause of it was there, plain as day. Vicky and Nicky had managed to find the herd!

"Oh no!" Sushie gasped. "This must be the real deal!"

"You guys again!" Luigi turned his anger from Mario to the zookeepers. "Can't you take a hint?!"

"Heh heh heh," Vicky chuckled. "You're not as smart as we thought. Trying to escape by climbing the mountain and all..."

"Now you're just sitting ducks," Nicky added. "Get another stink bomb ready, Vicky. It's time to catch something for once."

Vicky smiled as she pulls a stink bomb out of her pocket and prepares to hurl it at Luigi and friends.

Luigi objected, of course. "Leave this place now or you'll pay! I mean it! Play with fire and you're gonna get burned!" He raised his arms to summon the all-consuming fire attack, the Hyper Burn.

"No way, Luigi!" Waluigi suddenly dashed in front of him. "I'm gonna be the hero this time! Engage Dark Stare!"

"Dark Stare? You've got to be kidding me!" Wario groaned.

"Waluigi! Get out of my way!" Luigi said in frustration.

"Here we go!" the thin man stated. "Dark Stare!"

Waluigi leered at the zookeepers with evil eyes. He actually did look pretty intimidating. His eyes shone with an eerie purple aura which quickly faded away. There did not seem to be any effect though. The zookeepers didn't back off nor did they fall asleep or anything else at all.

"Is that all you have?" Vicky smirked and threw the stink bomb, creating another cloud of smoke.

"No! Shoot! That wasn't supposed to happen!" cried Waluigi.

"Nice going, Waluigi!" Luigi shouted. "Not!"

"Hey! What the?" Redy called out in alarm. "Let go of me! Luigi! Someone! Help meee!"

The smoke settled and the zookeepers were gone along with the red yoshi.

"Is everyone alright?" the leader asked. "Oh, jeez! They got away!"

"I'm not sure," Birdo replied. "I think someone was attacked."

"Redy's missing!" Orangey yelled. "I think they took him!"

"Seriously?" said a disappointed Mario. "That's the one I just saved awhile ago, wasn't it?"

"What are we gonna do now, Luigi?" Blacky asked sadly. "Redy's been caught."

Luigi thought for a moment. "I know. Let's blame Waluigi for this! I had everything under control until he butted in with his useless attack!"

"Yeah, purple Luigi. Thanks a lot," Purpley said sarcastically. "Now one of us is gone and it's because of you."

"H-hey now." Waluigi stammered and walked backwards away from Luigi and the angry yoshis. "I had good intentions. I really did. It's just...uh..."

Luigi didn't want to hear any excuses. With a war cry, he leapt at the doppelganger and began to beat him senselessly.

"Oh man..." Wario recoiled in horror.

"That's not gonna do us much good," said Sushie, trying to becalm the enraged hero. "We gotta chase down the zookeepers. Don't you agree, Mario?"

Mario just watched Luigi wail on Waluigi. That could've been him in Waluigi's place moments ago and he was glad that that didn't happen.

"Mario?"

"Oh. Sorry, Sushie. Yeah. I do agree with you on that. I also really wished that I brought my Ultra Hammer with me. Those two wouldn't stand a chance."

"I hear you there, buddy. I hope Luigi calms down soon."

It doesn't seem like he will though. He continued to beat down his rival while shouting every name in book and some that probably aren't. The yoshis and Birdo didn't dare go near him. Even Purpley was afraid of Luigi which is, of course, very unusual.

"Stupid stick figure!" Luigi screamed at the top of his lungs. "You're a retarded imbecile! You dumb buttwipe! You suck, Knot Head!"

Even Mario felt uneasy. "Whoa. I never heard him say stuff like that before. He must be really ticked off."

"Okay, buddy. That'll be quite enough of that," Wario said calmly as he walked right up to Luigi and grabbed him by the legs. Before Luigi knew what was going on, Wario swing him like a baseball bat right at a large rock.

Mario and Sushie saw that Luigi was now in trouble and had to do something. Sushie used her Squirt ability while Mario attacked with a body slam.

"What's the big idea, guys?" asked Wario. "I was just getting Luigi to back off."

"Oh yeah? Could you think of a way to do that without giving him a concussion?" Mario fumed.

"Hey. You always said he was hard-headed. Heh heh..."

Mario and the yoshis just glared at him. They're not too pleased about what he had done to their friend.

"I was going to go after the zookeepers when I was done with Waluigi," Luigi spoke as he reeled dizzily. "But now I hurt too much. Grazie, Wario. Ugh…"

Luigi and Waluigi were in pretty rough shape, so they were both put in safe places and fed some mushrooms that Mario brought from home.

"You'd better take it easy, Luigi," said Pinky.

"This is why you need to keep your cool," Sushie added. "Accidents tend to happen when you don't."

"Just remember that a calm mind is the wisest. Okay?" Mario finished.

"Great," Birdo said as she stepped up to Mario. "Wario just took off. Mentioned that he was looking for treasure."

"Shut up, Birdo," Mario muttered. "I don't feel like hearing about him right now. He's lucky he didn't break anything. Otherwise I would've-"

"So what are we supposed to do now? We're kinda stuck here."

"Will you let me talk? You know, I don't know why you're still with us. I mean, have you done having helpful lately? Sorry, but you're kinda useless now."

"Wh-what?!" Birdo shouted as tears came to her eyes. "Why would you say such a thing? If you're gonna be that way, then I'll just leave. I don't know why people like you so much, you jerk." Birdo turned and ran away, completely leaving them.

"Gee, that was kinda harsh, Mario," said his fishy friend. "I didn't know you could be so cynical."

"Seriously. She was just a burden. Frankly, I don't know what you're doing here."

"I'm here to help Luigi take care of the yoshis. What else is there to say?"

With Luigi out of commission, the herd had no choice but to stay here for the night. At least food wasn't a problem since there was still plenty of watermelons around.

Over in the desert kingdom of Sarasaland, Daisy was out on the balcony of her castle and watching the sunset.

"I wonder if Luigi is home yet," she thought. "I've given him a couple of days now."

Daisy went inside and to the telephone. She dialed Luigi's number and waited. Of course he isn't home so the answer machine got it.

"You're reached the Mario Bros. residence. Mario is too lazy to-"

"Oh no. Not again..." Daisy said, disappointed.

Daisy waited for the recording to finish.

"I'll leave a message, alright!" the princess bellowed. "Where the heck are you, Luigi? You said you'd only be gone for a few days! Don't you dare ditch me! Argh!"

Daisy slammed the phone down, then went back to the balcony to look at the sunset again.

"Where in the world is he and what is he doing...?"


	14. Decisions

Chapter 14: Decisions

In the middle of the night, the zookeepers returned to their ship on the beach. They opened one of the many cages on the deck and plopped Redy in.

"There we go," Vicky said cheerfully. "It was about time we finally got one."

"You're not gonna get away with this," Redy growled. "Luigi will come here and rescue me."

"Forget about that guy," said a gleeful Nicky. "You'll be the star of the zoo now. Everyone will love you."

"Well, it was a long day of work and I'm tired," Vicky yawned. "Let's catch one of your buddies tomorrow."

"You're only asking for trouble, you know."

"Nonsense," Nicky scoffed. "We'll get a nice playmate for you. Here, I'm sure you'll want some of these." He slipped a few apples between the bars of the cage.

Redy felt very uncomfortable right now. Even though apples were his favorite fruit, he wasn't sure if he felt like eating.

"I know you'll save me," he sniffled as he looked at the night sky.

Over in the mountains the next morning, Luigi awakened. He seemed like he was a bit dozy.

"Good morning, Luigi," said Mario, who was already awake. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I know one thing. I haven't been getting much sleep lately."

"Yeah...I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Ugh. What is it?" Luigi groaned, thinking that he was going to receive a scolding.

"I'm sorry about what I did yesterday. I didn't know that the stuff I said bothered you so much. Sushie had to fill me in on that. I'm sure that a combination of that and the stress that you were already under was just too much. If I had known that, I wouldn't have done what I did. But the fact is I did do it. I'm really sorry about that and now my mistake cost a yoshi. That just isn't right. I'll try to be a bit more helpful from now on. So do you think that you can find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Luigi looked at Mario pathetically and thought about what he just said. In the end, he can never seem to say no to his brother.

After everyone else woke up and had a quiet breakfast of watermelon, they followed Luigi to the next destination...whatever it may be.

As usual, somebody had to stir up trouble. "Are we there yet?"

"No, Waluigi. We're not," Luigi said matter-of-factly.

A few minutes later, he asked again. "Are we there now?"  
"Take a wild guess."

Moments later. "How about now?"

"Does it look like we are?" Luigi said in frustration. "Honestly, Waluigi. Didn't you learn anything yesterday?"

Luigi's rival was quiet for awhile. "Where are we going anyway?"

Alas, Luigi didn't actually have a destination in mind. He was completely unsure of what to do. Should he go to the beach and rescue Redy or continue the search for Mini Bluey?

"To be honest, I really don't know," the man in green replied.

"From one leader to another, I say we get Redy back," Mario suggested.

"Yeah. That sounds like something you'd do."

Oshi couldn't help but notice that Mario said that he was a leader. So he thought that he must a leader of a herd of humans. He imagined Mario and a bunch of Luigis. They weren't all wearing green and blue though. Many of them were wearing interesting colors such as orange and light blue, white and green, and even pink and red! Oshi was so amused with this thought that he laughed to himself.

"Hey, Oshi. What's so funny?" asked his best friend, Yosheta.

Oshi whispered his idea to Yosheta, causing her to chuckle too.

"I agree with Mario on this one," the former leader of the herd nodded. "After all, Mini Bluey might have suffered the same fate as Browny."

"Browny?" Luigi questioned. "Another one that I haven't met yet, huh?'

"Yeah," Purpley said sadly. She looked at the ground and shuffled her feet. "He was my mate. One day, he went to the great big island in the sky."

"Island in the sky? Do you mean...? Oh no."

The yoshis all looked forlorn, especially Purpley.

"He was a really good guy," said Orangey. "I liked him a lot."

While everyone was walking, they stumbled upon a grove of apple and orange trees. As one can imagine, they stopped to have some lunch, then hit the road again. Wario made sure to take some of the fruit along just to be on the safe side. Even he might need it soon since he was almost out of garlic and Waluigi complained about having no eggplants left.

As they traveled, Luigi noticed that Purpley seemed upset ever since the mention of Browny. He felt that it was necessary to console her about it.

"Purpley?"

"Yeah?" Clearly something wasn't right. Normally she would've loved to talk to Luigi, but she didn't look like she wanted to right now.

"About Browny..." Luigi continued nervously.

"He was such a sweetie. A lot like you really. Good at fighting like you too." She smiled and rubbed up against Luigi. "He really cared about us. Just like you."

Much to Luigi's surprise, Purpley kissed him right on the nose. He didn't say anything, but the reddish tint his face now had said it all. He simply stood there, almost as if he was in a trance.

"Hey! Luigi!" Sushie called. "You okay? You're looking kinda red there."

"I think he's in shock," Mario joked.

Luigi looked over the mountain range and saw something that may be worth checking out. "I know what to do now," he said in a rather serious tone.

Without explaining anything, Luigi suddenly took off. He was moved at a pretty good pace. He wasn't running, but he certainly wasn't walking either. Everyone had to jog just to keep up with him. When Luigi finally slowed down to catch his breath, the herd found themselves at a river.

"Good work, Luigi!" Mario shouted as he took an empty plastic bottle out of his back pack. "I totally needed this."

"Same here," said Sushie. She flopped into the river and happily splashed about.

The yoshis drank as Luigi also reached into his back pack and got an empty bottle. He filled it with water from the river, put the cap on, then put the bottle away. Afterward, he bent down and drank from the river himself.

"Going to this river was a great idea, Luigi," Bluey said after swallowing a mouthful of water. "But you never did tell us where we were going."

Luigi felt more confident after Purpley kissed him, but he didn't actually think about where to go.

"Maybe we should follow this stream back to the beach," Blacky proposed as he looked down the river and at the beach far away. "I think I see the zookeepers' ship there. To the right."

"I see something up there," Mario noted as he gazed upstream at what might be a cave. "We could check it out."

"It's up to you though," they both said together.

Luigi considered the two choices. He wanted to get Redy back, but it looked like the trip back to the beach was going to be a long one. He didn't know how long the zookeepers were going to be around. To be frank, they may leave before Luigi could get all the way down there.

As for the other choice, the cave looked like it was fairly close. It would take about an hour to get there. Also, if the zookeepers were going to stick around, which they most certainly would if they wanted to catch another yoshi, then there would be plenty of time to check it out. But there is no telling what is in the cave or where it could lead.

"Let's head up there," Luigi said sternly as he pointed to the cave. "It may be worth a shot."

Without questioning him, the yoshis once again followed their leader. Luigi is taking a bit of a gamble, but will it pay off?


	15. Reunion

Chapter 15: Reunion

The zookeepers set out to catch another yoshi that afternoon. They had been wandering around in the mountains for some time when they saw something moving not too far away.

"Look over there," Nicky pointed out. "That must be a yoshi. See it?"

"Bingo. Preparing to ambush."

At the stream, Luigi and the herd have been making steady progress. Berry bushes seemed to grow plentifully in the area. The yoshis happily picked them off as they walked along. No one even noticed that Wario and Waluigi had snuck off to look for treasure.

"Meh," Luigi said flatly after sampling one. "You guys can eat all you want. I don't think they're too great."

"Same here. You can have them all," Mario added after he tried one too.

Soon, the stream forked. The left fork flowed from the cave. The right went to goodness-knows. Of course the herd went left. When they arrived at the cave, the yoshis peered into the inky darkness.

"Who is going in first?" asked Yosheta, her voice shaking slightly.

"I will," Oshi answered, stepping toward the mouth of the cave.

"No need. I'll take care of it," Luigi said as he reached in his back pack to fetch a flashlight. "I'll scope things out here. The rest of you just stay here until I get back."

"Alright then. Don't take too long though," Mario warned. "I'm not sure if Sushie and I can hold off the zookeepers by ourselves if they happen to come."

Luigi nodded, turned on his flashlight and went inside. Although the stream was flowing through cave, there was a good-sized stretch of dirt on one side. Otherwise, the cave was much like the one that Blacky lived in. There was a pile of leaves for a bed in one corner and a pile of fruit in another. The fruit was a little unusual though. Along with the common things like apples and watermelons, there were also things like pears, kiwi and lemons. There was even a few chili peppers; something that most yoshis didn't like.

Luigi was about to move in for a closer look when he noticed footprints. The dirt in the cave was actually quite damp, perhaps because of the river. Our hero looked at the footprints for a moment or two. Something about them seemed odd.

Bluey poked his head in the cave "Are you okay in there, Luigi?"

"Yeah yeah. I'm fine," Luigi said as he stepped out. "It's safe. I don't see anyone in there. Yet, I have a bad feeling."

"A bad feeling? Why's that?" asked Sushie.

Luigi signaled everyone to follow him inside.

"This reminds me of my cave," Blacky remarked. "Another yoshi must live here."

"There's a little more to it than that, I'm afraid," said Luigi.

"Well, what's got you worked up then?"

"Three things," the leader explained. "First, if someone lives here, then where are they right now? Second, judging by the footprints right over there, I'd say that something bad indeed happened."

"I see. Go on."

"Last, look what I found," Luigi pulled something out of his overalls pocket.

Everyone crowded around to see what it was. It was a pink sparkly rock. As pretty as it was, no one knew what it had to do with anything. Purpley smiled when she saw it though. It was the rock she had given to Luigi when he came to Yoshi's Island the first time.

"Excuse me. Wrong thing," Luigi realized his mistake. He put the rock back in his pocket and took out something else. This object was black and round.

"A stink bomb?" Mario guessed. "That can only mean..."

"Right. I think there was a yoshi here and it was captured by the zookeepers!"

"Oh no," Yosheta gasped. "What if it was my dad?"

Pinky just shook her head sadly.

"Well, we don't know for sure," the leader of the herd replied. "I suppose we can stay here for a little while though."

They did just that. In the evening, Wario and Waluigi had also managed to find the cave during their treasure hunt.

"Hey! No fair!" Wario bellowed.

"Don't worry. There wasn't anything here that you would want," Luigi told him.

As the sun set and the end of the day came near, Mario made a campfire outside of the cave. He had some hot dogs in his back pack that he nearly forgot about and decided to roast them.

"What are you doing?" Bluey asked when he saw Mario was up to something.

"Cooking hot dogs," he answered.

"Hot dogs? What are those?"

"Well, I guess you could say that it's something that humans often eat."

"Human food, huh? May I try one?"

"Sure thing. Here you go," Mario said cheerfully as he pulled the hot dog off the stick and gave it to Bluey.

As expected, Bluey gulped it down with no chewing. "Not bad."

"Try one of these too." Seems Mario had brought some marshmallows as well.

Bluey enjoyed this treat too. "It's a bit sticky," he commented as he licked his lips. "But it's pretty good."

Shortly, everyone was outside and enjoying the cooked meal.

"Mama mia! It happened again!" Luigi said in an annoyed tone when some marshmallow stuck to his bushy mustache.

"Just wash it off in the river. You'll be fine," Mario scoffed.

"Look out!" shouted Sushie, who kept an eye out for trouble while everyone ate. "Someone's coming up the mountain!"

"What? Right now?" Blacky asked.

"Yeah! Right over there!"

Blacky stood next to Sushie and looked down. True to her word, there really was someone there. It's difficult to see exactly who it was due to the fading daylight. Whoever it was though, they were moving surprisingly quick.

"I see. Everyone into the cave!" the black yoshi commanded.

Without asking any questions, everyone high-tailed it into the cave. Everyone but Pinky, that is.

"Pinky! Get in there!" Luigi urged. "It might be a zookeeper!"

"I don't know about that," she said calmly. "They don't come out at night."

Pinky gasped as a yoshi climbed up to where she was. The yoshi was light blue in color.

"Wow. I thought I was lost. Good thing you made this fire, Whitey," The newcomer had a chirpy voice, like he was excited.

"Mini Bluey? It's me, Pinky."

"Pinky? What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay with the rest of the herd."

"You were gone for such a long time and I was really worried about you. Also, I'm with the herd right now."

"Well, you should've stayed home!" The light blue yoshi looked like he might attack Pinky, but instead he lovingly rubbed against her.

Luigi stood there in awe. There was no doubt that this new yoshi was indeed Mini Bluey, the very yoshi that he had vowed to find.

"Oh yes," Pinky said suddenly. "The egg that I laid hatched. You now have a beautiful daughter. Come out here, Yosheta, and meet your dad."

Yosheta slowly poked her head out of the cave. When she saw the pale-colored yoshi, she skipped out happily and rubs against him like he did to Pinky a moment ago. Supposedly, this is the yoshi version of a hug.

"Dad, I'm so glad to finally meet you," the young yoshi spoke as she shed a tear of joy. "My name is Yosheta."

"Yosheta, huh?" her dad said. "That's a pretty nice name. Did you think of it yourself, Pinky?"

Actually..." she began.

However, Mini Bluey quickly noticed Luigi standing nearby. "Whoa! What is that?"

"I was about to mention him. That's just Luigi. He became the leader of the herd some time after you left. I know he looks funny, having no tail and all, but he is quite a good leader though."

"Really now? Well, nice to meet you, Luigi."

"Same here," the human said, winking.

"By the way, have any of you seen Whitey around? She said that she would be here."

Luigi was a little confused now. "Can't say I've seen them, let alone know who that is."

"Whitey is my mate," Blacky spoke up and left the cave. "She's a white yoshi obviously. When Mini Bluey seemed to disappear, I sent her after him. She was born and raised in the mountains, so I believed that she was a good choice for the job. We haven't seen her though. When was the last time you did, Mini Bluey?"

"Earlier today. She was right here in the cave, eating."

Luigi thought about the footprints he found in the cave as well as the stink bomb. What happened in there now seemed clear.

"I think...that Whitey was yoshinapped..." he gulped.


	16. Conversation of the Captives

Chapter 16: Conversation of the Captives

The moon rose over the horizon as Vicky and Nicky returned to their ship. Each of them had a large sack, similar to the ones Wario uses, in their clutches.

"What a haul we had today!" Vicky shouted excitedly. "Two yoshis!"

"That Luigi guy wasn't even around this time," Nicky laughed. "I guess he gave up."

Redy had been laying quietly in his cage until he heard the zookeepers' cheers. He suddenly got up with a start and peered out of the cage

"Oh no," the yoshi thought. "I hope they didn't get any more of us."

"Would it be alright if I put the albino one in with the red one?" asked Nicky.

"Just put it in a cage. I don't care what one," his sister replied.

Nicky opened Redy's cage just wide enough to pop another yoshi in it. It was too dark to clearly see what color it was.

"The pink one is pretty hostile. I'm gonna need your help on getting it in this cage," Vicky grunted.

"No! Not Pinky!" Redy fumed.

After closing the door to Redy's cage, Nicky helped Vicky put the other yoshi into the next cage. It put up a bit of a struggle, but wasn't enough to fight off both of them.

"You're not gonna get away with this, Dog Faces!" The 'pink yoshi' was none other than Birdo.

"Yeah! Let me out of here!" Redy's new cell-mate shouted. For some reason, it spoke in the yoshi language rather than in English.

However, the zookeepers paid no attention and walked to their sleeping quarters to retire for the night.

"Is that you, Birdo?" asked Redy. "Are you okay?"

"The dart they shot me with hurt, but I'm fine," Birdo answered. Though judging by her voice, she probably wasn't.

"Where am I?" the other yoshi questioned, still speaking in yoshi.

"Who's in there with you, Redy? Is it someone you know?"

"My name is Whitey," said the new yoshi.

"What did he say?" She may be a fan of yoshis, but Birdo didn't understand their language.

"It's not a boy," Redy said, laughing a tad bit. "It's a girl. She said that her name is Whitey."

"A white yoshi I take it?"

"Yup. She sure is. Wait a minute..." Redy then realized just who was with him. "Whitey! Where were you all this time?"

"Oh. I've just been looking after Mini Bluey," Whitey explained.

"Translate please."

"She says that she's been taking care of Mini Bluey."

"Mini Bluey?!" Birdo and Redy exclaimed.

"Sure. He doesn't know the mountains like I do. I'm not sure if anyone does."

"She says that she found Mini Bluey in the mountains. She knows them pretty well," Redy translated. "She was born there after all."

"Can't she speak English like us?" Birdo asked.

"Not very well..." Even if you didn't understand yoshi, it was easy to tell what she meant due to the sad tone.

"She says it's hard."

"C'mon now. Just give it a shot. I know. Try saying my name. It's Birdo."

Whitey nods and tries her best. "Ba..." she said in English. "Bur...burrr...da...duh... Bur-oh!"

"Well, I suppose it was a good try," Birdo tried to be polite even though she really wasn't impressed.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it," Redy pat Whitey on the back.

"So what is going on here?" the white yoshi asked. In yoshi, of course.

"How to explain this..." Redy sighed. "She wants to know what all of this is."

"I'll give you the gist of it." Birdo said thoughtfully. "We've been captured by these things called zookeepers. Unless we can figure out a way to get out of here, they'll take us to a zoo where we'll be trapped forever and can't do anything. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. Thank you," said Whitey.

"She says yes. But don't worry, Whitey," Redy cheered up a bit. "Luigi will save us."

"Luigi?" Who's that?" Needless to say, Whitey never met him before.

"He's our new leader. He's pretty cool."

"What color is he?"

"Oh, he's not a yoshi like us. He's-"

"A big dummy that doesn't know what he's doing!" Birdo blurted out.

"Don't listen to her. He really is cool. He can even shoot fire when he's ticked off. It's hard to tell you what he looks like, but you'll see him yourself when he comes to save us."

"He sounds like a good guy. Are you sure he's coming though?" Whitey seems to be interested in this new yoshi leader.

"I hope he'll come to save us anyway."

"I'm pretty sure he is," Birdo chimed in. "He was going kinda nuts when you were caught, Redy."

"I see. Is there anything we can do?" Whitey wondered.

"No. I don't know what to do. Do you have any ideas, Birdo?"

"Frankly, I'd like to sleep," the pink creature yawned.

The two yoshis agreed and all the captives settled down. Before they fell asleep, each of them looked at the night sky.

"Please help us, Luigi..." Redy wished.

"Don't mess this up, Luigi..." Birdo muttered.

"I hope you're real, Luigi..." Whitey pleaded.


	17. The Myth of the Jewel Tribe

Chapter 17: The Myth of the Jewel Tribe

The next morning, Luigi woke up and saw Pinky, Yosheta, Mini Bluey and Blacky talking just outside the cave. Everyone else was asleep. Luigi quietly stepped out of the cave to see what was up. Something seemed a bit off. Blacky and Pinky looked like they were arguing with Mini Bluey.

"That can't be right," Blacky scoffed. "It's just a myth."

"It's not a myth! It's real!" Mini Bluey tried to convince him.

"There's no such thing! You're being foolish again!" Pinky retorted.

"But Whitey and I saw it with our very own eyes!"

Now that it was daytime, Luigi was able to see Mini Bluey clearly for the first time. It's no wonder he got that nickname. Not only was he Bluey's little brother, but he really was little. He wasn't much bigger than his one-year-old daughter and Blacky was a gorilla compared to him. Another striking feature of his was his voice. It was quite chirpy and quick. It was like he was excited about something all the time.

"What's going on?" Luigi asked Yosheta, who was simply listening to the others.

"Dad says that he saw a silver yoshi. Mom and Blacky say there's no such thing though."

"I didn't say there's no such thing," Blacky corrected. "I just said that it's only part of a myth."

"A myth, huh?" said the perplexed plumber. "I didn't know there were yoshi myths."

"Sure there is. I'd be happy to tell you right now if you'd like."

"That'd be cool."

"In fact, I want to tell it to everyone. Mini Bluey, could you please wake them up?"

Mini Bluey did as he was told. Before long, the herd grabbed some fruit, then crowded around Blacky and quietly enjoyed their breakfast as he told his story.

Just for kicks, Mario replaced the headphones on his CD player with a pair of miniature speakers, then he popped in the Super Mario 64 soundtrack and skipped to the underground theme.

"Do I dare ask?" Luigi said when he saw the set-up.

"I thought it seemed fitting."

"Now, everyone, I'm going to tell you...the Legend of the Jewel Tribe..." Blacky spoke, his usually low voice becoming even lower.

The yoshis and Luigi edged closer to the storyteller.

"A very long time ago, there were four Yoshi Gods. Their names were Whitedust, Blackdust, Stardust and Rainbow. One day, they created a herd of beautifully colored yoshis. They were not simple colors like blue and yellow."

"Hey!" Bluey and Yellowy shouted, feeling offended.

"Sorry guys, but that's just how the story goes. Anyway, they were unique colors such as ruby, sapphire and emerald. This new 'Jewel Tribe' was native to Crystal Island. The leader, or kings as they were called, were Goldendale the gold yoshi and Silverstone the silver yoshi. The lives of the Jewel Tribe was hard compared to ours. Their goal was to find the Yoshi Gods that created them."

"That's some goal..." Luigi said in awe.

"Like all of us, the Jewel Tribe was not perfect. They did have a weakness. That weakness is they must eat crystals to survive. Fruit won't work. Fortunately, they have a crystal in their possession that gives them all the crystals that they need."

"Much like Lily and the Water Stone?" Mario said quietly as he recalled part of his previous adventure.

"Sounds like it," Sushie agreed.

"A crystal that makes more crystals? Now that's my kind of treasure!" Wario hooted.

"Silence please. Back to where I was," the wise yoshi continued. "Crystal Island was a dangerous place though. The main reason being that a black diamond yoshi named Chaos also lived there. He often tried to steal the precious crystal. Without it, the Jewel Tribe will surely die."

"Well, what happens when they find all the Yoshi Gods?" Luigi asked. His curiosity was through the roof.

"Alas, even I do not know. Like I said, it's simply a myth. There's no telling if it is even true or not. Anyway, that ends the story."

"Okay. I'll just be turning this off then," Mario said as he hit a button on his CD player, causing the music to stop.

"Boy, would that be an interesting story to tell the yoshis on Lavalava Island," Sushie thought to herself.

"Well, it's back to the search for me," Mini Bluey said as he stood up and began to walk away.

"Huh? Where do you think you're going?" Luigi asked.

"I'm off to find Silverstone. I'm pretty sure I saw him. Heck, I've even talked to him and he seemed real enough to me. See you around," Mini Bluey waved and left the cave.

"He's a real nice guy, but he's not very careful at all," his mate shrugged.

"Sounds like someone I know," Sushie stated.

"Kolorado?" Mario guessed.

"Bingo."

"I'd better go after him," Luigi said as he was about to leave too. "I'm not about to lose him so soon after I found him."

"Oh, Luigi," Purpley spoke up. "Before you go..."

"What is it? I kinda have t-"

Luigi's sentence was cut off as Purpley kissed him. Like before, he stood there for a quiet moment, then took off without really saying anything.

"Wha-what?" the female yoshi asked when she noticed the odd looks she was getting from everyone. "It was for good luck. Yeah."

"You know, I'm still in a storytelling mood," said Blacky. "I know another myth about a herd of yoshis and a baby human..."

"Blacky thinks he's so smart," Mini Bluey muttered as he made his way upstream. "I'll show him! I'll show everyone! I know Silverstone is real! I'll find him again and-"

"Mini Bluey! Wait up!" Luigi called after him.

Mini Bluey paused for a moment so Luigi could catch up to him. "What do you want?"

"I want you to get back to the cave right now," he answered sternly.

"You don't believe me either, do you?"

"It's not that I don't believe you. I just want to make sure nothing happens to you."

"You must be kidding! You don't think I'm telling the truth either! I'm gonna find Silverstone and show everyone just how real he is!"

"Slow down there, buddy. I never said that. Look, do you know where the last place you saw him was? It might help."

"Oh, sure. He was right at the beginning of the river. Can't forget something like that. C'mon! It's up this way!"

Luigi followed Mini Bluey as he hiked up the river. It seemed that the higher they went, the rougher the river became. Eventually they came to the biggest waterfall that Luigi has ever seen!

"I take it that we go up that?" Luigi gulped. Apparently the effect of Purpley's kiss wore off.

Mini Bluey just nodded and began to climb the steep rocks nearby. Luigi hesitated a moment before starting the ascent as well. It was clear that Mini Bluey was determined by how fast he was climbing. He was so fast, in fact, that Luigi lost sight of him. It was quite a tiring feat, but Luigi eventually made it to the top...and what he saw was amazing. At the summit was a large lake that the waterfall flowed from.

Even more amazing were the two yoshis that stood near the lake. One of them was Mini Bluey, of course. The other one was completely new though. This one had a silvery color which shone when the sunlight hit it at just the right angle. Luigi had never seen such a gorgeous yoshi before. Both of the yoshis noticed the human and walked up to him.

"There you are," Mini Bluey beamed. "Luigi, I'd like you to meet Silverstone."

"Greetings," the silver yoshi said politely. "I heard about you. My name is Silverstone and I come from Crystal Island."

"Mama mia..." was all the awe-struck Luigi could say.


	18. Enter Silverstone

Chapter 18: Enter Silverstone

After Mini Bluey and Luigi managed to track down the mythical silver yoshi known as Silverstone, they led him back to Mini Bluey's cave for all to see.

"Well, I'll be... Silverstone is real!" Blacky exclaimed as he looked at him from head to toe.

"That is one cool looking yoshi!" Sushie grinned.

"He's so shiny," Mario looked at his own reflection on Silverstone's tail. "It's almost like he's wearing a metal cap."

"He's pretty cute anyway," Purpley mused. She still thought Luigi was the best though.

"I am...so...jealous," Wario grumped.

"Thank you," Silverstone said modestly. "You're all so kind."

Silverstone really did look like he came right out of a legend. He was almost as big as Blacky and had beautiful coloring. Even his shoes, which were sapphire in color, were a sight to behold. He also had a most unusual voice for a yoshi. It was a rather suave voice with a very slight accent.

"Silverstone, my name is Blacky," the former leader of the herd spoke. "I welcome you to Yoshi's Island. Sorry if I sound a little down, but we have a bit of problem."

"A problem? What seems to be the matter?"

"Well, there are these things called zookeepers that haven been trying to catch us lately."

"They already caught my brother Redy," Orangey sighed. "Now they have Whitey too."

"Whitey? Oh no!" Silverstone said with concern.

"Huh? You know Whitey?" asked Blacky.

"Sure. She was the first yoshi I met when I got here."

"Hmm...do you think...?" Luigi began.

As Luigi, Blacky, and Mini Bluey discussed something, Silverstone's attention fell upon Pinky. She and Yosheta were sampling some kiwi when Silverstone approached them.

"Why, hello there. What is your name?" Silverstone asked.

Yosheta hid behind her mother as she gave him her name.

"Pinky, huh? That's a cute name. Of course, you're pretty cute yourself. So how have you been?"

"It's been rough lately," the girl said sadly. "We've all been trying to avoid being caught by zookeepers. I've also been taking care of my daughter. She's quite shy."

The soft-spoken yoshi slowly came out of hiding. "Hi. I'm Yosheta."

"I must say, that's a pretty name," Silverstone smiled. "This may sound funny coming from me, but I didn't know yoshis came in that color."

"Oh, I see you're talking to my mate," said Mini Bluey.

"My apologies. I didn't realize that." Silverstone felt a little guilty talking to his friend's mate without even realizing it.

"Don't worry. As long as she doesn't mind, it's fine," the father yoshi laughed.

"Yeah. We're pretty open and casual here," Luigi chimed in.

"Your color is neat. It must be really rare," Pinky commented. She was quite curious about the odd yoshi.

"Yes. In fact, it is one-of-a-kind. I am the only yoshi of this color."

"So tell me a bit about yourself."

"Well, the rest of the Jewel Tribe and I spend a lot of our time looking for the Yoshi Gods that created us."

"Any luck?"

"Sure. We've found two of them actually. We just need to find the other two, Blackdust and Rainbow."

"I bet Rainbow is beautiful," Yosheta said dreamily as she tried to imagine a yoshi of seven colors.

"Hopefully I'll be able to see for myself one day. To be honest, I heard that Rainbow thought that we were too powerful and wanted us to be destroyed."

"Oh my," Pinky gasped.

"Yes, that is a little frightening, isn't it? Maybe more than Chaos actually..."

"Chaos? That's the bad guy that's been trying to steal your crystal, right?"

"That's right. How did you know that?" I don't recall mentioning it."

"Blacky told us the legend of the Jewel Tribe."

"Ah. I see. He must be the king, yes? Pardon, I mean leader."

"He used to be, but Luigi is the leader now."

"Very well. We must continue this conversation later. I do believe that you guys are in need of assistance."

"Yeah. We need all the help we can get," said Luigi.

"So what can I help you with?"

"Well, it goes like this. It all started when my brother and I came out here on a ship to visit these guys," Luigi took a moment to pet Oshi. "Everything was fine at first, but then a couple of zookeepers came. I'm not really sure what their names were. You wouldn't happen to know what a zoo is, do you?"

"Can't say I do," Silverstone replied.

"Let me put it this way. A zoo is a place where animals are imprisoned and displayed. Zookeepers are people that catch animals and run a zoo."

"How depressing."

"Exactly. Anyway, the zookeepers came up to me and tried to buy one of the yoshis. I turned them down. I mean, there is no way I could sell one of my friends. After that, they tried to catch the poor guys. We were safe for awhile since we stayed in Blacky's cave most of the time. But one of them must have followed us there because Birdo left a letter telling me so."

"Birdo? What's a Birdo?" asked the confused silver yoshi.

"Birdo is..." Luigi trailed off while thinking of a description. "Birdo looks a bit like a pink yoshi, but she has a big snout that she shoots eggs out of and wears a big red bow."

"Odd. I don't think there's anything like that on Crystal Island."

"Speaking of Birdo, has anyone seen her lately?"

"Nope. She took off a few days ago," said Mario, who happened to be in a relaxed position. "She cried like a baby. Might've mentioned something about me being a jerk. Frankly, I wasn't paying much attention."

"Huh. Okay. Anyway..." Luigi continued. "Birdo revealed to us that the zookeepers followed us here with their own ship. So we migrated into the mountains to not only escape from them, but also to look for Yosheta's missing dad, Mini Bluey. I guess I forgot the part where Pinky and Blacky told me that he was missing."

"Weegie big dummy!" Waluigi laughed. "Forgot something important!"

"Shut up and let the man talk!" Wario scolded.

"Oh yeah? Let's see you make me."

Wario accepted Waluigi's little challenge. He swiftly grabbed him by the feet and bashed him against the ground for an instant knock out.

"Yikes. That's brutal," Mario winced.

"As I was saying," Luigi went on once more. "After awhile, the zookeepers managed to catch up to us and grab one of the yoshis. We eventually came here and found Mini Bluey. But now it seems that Whitey is gone."

"I see. That sounds like quite the problem," Silverstone said after listening to the story thoroughly. "I'd like to help, but I'm afraid that I'm feeling rather hungry at the moment."

"You'd better hurry to the crystal cave then," said Mini Bluey. "Do you remember where it is?"

Wario's pointed ears perked up when he heard the words "crystal cave."

"I believe so. Follow the other fork of the river upstream until you reach the cherry tree grove, then cross the river and keep going. When you get to the rock that looks like a lemon, go left. The cave should be just ahead."

"Mind if I come along?" asked Luigi.

"Me too!" Sushie chimed in.

"I would also like to go and stuff," Wario grinned.

Mario, Blacky and Silverstone all thought that it was fine.

"Hey, Luigi," Purpley said as she trotted over to Luigi and kissed him.

"I really didn't need that," said the hero. "Then again, I guess it doesn't hurt to try."

Outside the cave, Silverstone, Luigi, Wario and Sushie went upstream until they came to a grove of cherry trees. They swam across the river and continued going in a straight line until they came to a particularly large and smooth rock.

"We're almost there," Silverstone announced. This is the rock Mini Bluey mentioned. I remember it."

"Looks more like a football than a lemon." Wario shrugged. "But if you recognize it, then never mind."

The quartet took a left at the lemon rock. They easily found the cave soon afterward. The inside was oddly bright. Perhaps because of the outside light reflecting on the crystals. Silverstone happily munched on the pretty gems while Luigi and Sushie watched.

"It's a good thing that this crystal-filled cave is here," said Sushie. "What were the chances of that happening?"

"Actually, this isn't the only one," Silverstone said between mouthfuls. "While I explored around with Whitey and Mini Bluey, we found at least two others."

Not surprisingly, Wario was only interested in grabbing as many crystals as possible and stuffing them into a sack.

While Silverstone and Wario were enjoying the crystals, a couple of unexpected and certainly uninvited guests dropped in.

"Uh oh! It's the zookeepers!" Sushie shouted.

"That's riiiight," Nicky said in a sing-song tone.

"Where are all the yoshis?" a confused Vicky asked when she noticed that the herd wasn't with Luigi. "Oh well. What do you have this time? Is...is that yoshi silver?!"

"Neat! The fish isn't in water, yet it looks totally fine!" Nicky and Vicky don't seem to be on quite the same wavelength.

"I don't care about some dumb old fish unless it's a coelacanth! Let's get the yoshi!"

"You're not getting him," Luigi said in a threatening tone and gave the siblings an angry glare.

"What was that?"

"I think it's time for you to go now," Luigi stood his ground.

"Oh ho ho!" Vicky laughed. "Looks like you finally toughened up. Too bad we already got two more of your yoshis yesterday. Better late than never, I suppose."

Luigi was very displeased now. "That does it! Hy-"

"Crystal Tears!" Silverstone shouted as he turned toward the zookeepers.

Suddenly, tons of crystal shards began to fall out of nowhere. Vicky and Nicky dance about to avoid the sharp projectiles. They soon realized that it was simply impossible to get through this new attack and fled.

Luigi was awestruck. "That...was the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"He's legendary, no doubt," Sushie added. "Normal yoshis just don't do that."

Wario was so focused on rounding up treasure that he was completely oblivious about what just occurred.

After the chaotic scene, everyone left the cave and returned to where the others were as quickly as possible. After a dinner of fruit, the herd went to sleep for the night. Or so it seemed...


	19. Campfire Chat

Chapter 19: Campfire Chat

Mario woke up in the middle of the night and saw a campfire burning outside. He wondered what was going on, so he got on his feet and quietly peeked out of the cave. Luigi, Sushie, Mini Bluey and Silverstone were huddled around the campfire and spoke in low voices. They all seemed pretty upset.

"Those zookeepers certainly are a problem," said Silverstone.

Luigi simply nodded.

"There's something that really bugs me," Sushie stated. "One of them mentioned that they got two yoshis yesterday."

"Obviously. Redy and Whitey," said Luigi. "What's the big deal?"

"No. That's not right. Redy wasn't caught yesterday. That was two days ago. I think we all agree that Whitey was caught yesterday though. The rest of the herd is here so who else could've been caught?"

"Are there any other yoshis I should know about?" Luigi asked Mini Bluey.  
"Nope. It was just me, Whitey and Silverstone."

"I was the only one that was sent here from Crystal Island," Silverstone added. "So none of the members of my tribe were taken. I am quite sure of that."

"If the rest of the Jewel Tribe fight like you, there is no way they can be caught," Luigi smiled a bit.

"So who else was caught?" Sushie mused.

"I think the answer to that is fairly simple."

Everyone looked up to see Mario step out of the cave.

"Sorry. Am I butting in?"

"Not at all," Silverstone replied. "We could use another opinion actually."

"Yeah. Join us, bro."

Mario sat down between the two yoshis.

"So what do you mean the answer is fairly simple?" asked a confused Luigi.

"Think back for a minute. Remember how I said that the zookeepers want 'the one with the bow on its head?'"

"You might've mentioned that to me before."

"Well, don't you find it a tad bit odd that Birdo, who happens to look a bit like a yoshi with a bow, runs off and is never seen again?"

Luigi put a hand on his chin. "I see..."

"He's got a point," Sushie agreed. "Apparently Birdo cares about yoshis as much as I do. If she was wandering around by herself, she probably would've been an easy snag."

"Just like Whitey. She was all alone too," Mini Bluey pointed out.

"I'm still not sure what a Birdo is," said Silverstone. "But I can certainly understand what you're getting at, Mario."  
Luigi was still thinking hard. "I don't quite get it. Birdo knew about the zookeepers, so-"

"May I suggest that you stop thinking about Birdo and come up a plan on what we're going to do?" said a low, wise voice.

Everyone looked up and saw that another person, Blacky, wanted to join the conversation. Like Mario, he woke up in the middle of the night and saw the campfire.

"Ah, Blacky. Come have a seat," Luigi moved so Blacky could sit between him and Sushie.

"You know, you should really think about what we're going to do. Not about whether Birdo was caught or not. I don't want you to wear yourself out by thinking about unnecessary things like that."

"True. It's already happened before once," Sushie nodded.

"In that case, I'm considering going back down the mountain," Luigi proposed.

"That should be a given," said Mario. "The reason we came all the way up here to begin with is to find Mini Bluey."

"Well, here I am!" Mini Bluey chuckled.

"Though we got a bit of an unexpected bonus if you know what I mean."

"Okay. So obviously we need to go back to the beach and save Redy, Whitey, and Birdo," Luigi said.

"Oh, so you think Birdo really was caught then?" asked Sushie.

"Lemme rephrase that. We have to save the guys that got caught."

"Whitey is a girl," Blacky said quietly.

"You know what I mean," Luigi sighed.

"Sorry."

"So you're willing to fight the zookeepers, huh?" Mario asked. "Might be kinda tricky. They seem to escape a lot."

"I'll do whatever it takes," Luigi said bravely. Though it was dark, it was easy to see the serious expression he wore.

"After we send the zookeepers packing, what will we do?" asked Silverstone.

Luigi didn't answer. Perhaps he was thinking again.

"Luigi?"

The only sound was Luigi's silent snoring.

"Poor guy," Blacky said sympathetically. "All worn out."

"I think we're all tired," Mini Bluey yawned. Despite his usually peppy voice, even he sounded rather sleepy.

"Yeah. We should get some sleep," Silverstone agreed.

"We're gonna need all the rest we can get," said Mario. "Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Silverstone, please help me carry Luigi into the cave. Careful now. He's a bit of a light sleeper. Trust me on this."

Mario and Silverstone carry Luigi inside while Sushie put out the campfire with her Squirt ability. Everyone soon fell asleep and stay that way until the next morning.


	20. Special Delivery

Chapter 20: Special Delivery

In Sarasaland, Daisy was once again considering calling Luigi.

"He should be home by now," she thought as she picked up the phone. "It's been almost a week."

As usual, the phone rang four times, only to be picked up by the answering machine.

"For crying out loud, Luigi! Are you still gone or are you ignoring me? If it's about last month, I didn't know you were allergic to those herbs I gave you, okay? Ugh. Whatever. Just call me back whenever you can. Bye."

Daisy sighed and hung up the phone. As she did so, she looked out the window and noticed that the mailman was at her mailbox.

"Hmm. It's a bit of a long shot, but I could try the old-fashioned method."

Outside, the mailman, a Paratroopa named Parakarry, was just about to leave when Daisy suddenly burst out of her front door with a letter in hand.

"Oh dear. Were you waiting for something in particular?" Parakarry asked.

"Actually, I have something to be delivered," Daisy said as she handed the letter to Parakarry. "It's to Luigi. I think he's somewhere on Yoshi's Island."

"Okay then. I'll get right on it as soon as I finish up with business here in Chai," The mailman tucks the letter into his bag and flew away.

Back over on Yoshi's Island, everyone had woke up and were awaiting orders from Luigi.

"It's prime time that we returned to the beach," the leader proclaimed. "I've had it with the zookeepers. We've got to take back our friends. You all with me?"

The yoshis cheered in agreement.

"Now let's get out of here and never come back."

The yoshis finished off the rest of the fruit for breakfast. Silverstone, however, helped himself to the sack of crystals that Wario got yesterday.

"Hey, you! Stop that! Those are mine!" Wario shouted angrily.

"Oh, dear," Silverstone said, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry. I thought you got those for me."

"Why I oughta-"

"Back off, Wario," Luigi stepped in. "I'll take the blame for this. I probably should've grabbed some for him for later."

Wario looked in the sack and saw that there were a handful of crystals left. He didn't say a word.

Luigi and the herd left the cave and began hiking downstream. They had just passed by the apple and orange trees when...

"Ouch My head!" Yellowy shouted when he was hit by what appeared to be a turtle shell with wings.

"Whoops. Terribly sorry," said the shell which turned out to be Parakarry. "I was in such a hurry, I guess I wasn't being careful. Have any of you seen Luigi at all?"

"Sure. Right over there," the yellow yoshi moaned.

"What brings you all the way here, Parakarry?" Luigi asked.

"I've got a couple of letters for you. Both to be delivered ASAP. Here you go," Parakarry handed two letters to Luigi.

"What do we have here?" the man in green said as he opened the first letter. "Let's see. 'Dear Son-of-a-gun, What's the big idea? I called your house three times and had to put up with your _stupid_ answer machine.' Stupid is underlined. 'I've had it. Don't even bother coming home, you...' Eep. I'm not reading the rest of that out loud. 'P.S. I'll forgive you if you get me a Kirby for my birthday.'"

"A Kirby?" Waluigi shrugged. "Isn't that one of those annoying furry things with the beak and big ears and make no sense at all?"

"Oh, wow!" Mario laughed. "Is that from Daisy? Sounds like she's steamed at you!"

"Dude! Waluigi Whack!" Wario yelled as he scooped up Waluigi by the legs and swung him at Mario, seemingly knocking out both of them.

"Whoa! Where'd you learn how to do that?" said a wide-eyed Luigi.

"Just a little something I came up with the other day. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Yeah yeah. I'd better see what the other letter says now. 'Dear Luigi, This is Birdo and I have some bad news.' Hey, guys! It's from Birdo!"

"Really now? Read the rest of it," said Sushie.

Luigi cleared his throat and started over. "'Dear Luigi, this is Birdo and I have some bad news. I got caught by Vicky and Nicky and they stuck me on their ship. They also have Redy and a white yoshi called Whitey. She doesn't speak English, but Redy told me that she's Blacky's mate. Now I have some REALLY bad news...the zookeepers are going to leave the island tonight! To make sure that you don't try to save us, they've sent out a small cat-like creature to stop you. Hurry, Luigi! P.S. Redy and I told Whitey about you. Both of them have faith in you now. Don't let them down!'"

"Interesting. I suppose the ideas that we talked about last night were accurate," Silverstone mused.

"I guess I don't need to mention that Yoshi's Island is home to three-quarters of the world's yoshi population," the Cheep Cheep chuckled nervously. "And that one of the captured yoshis is most likely one from a different herd altogether."

Oddly, Luigi had a hopeful smile and tears in his eyes at the same time. "They have faith in me..."

"Oh no," Pinky sighed when see saw the tears. "You must be tired."

"I think he'll be fine, Pinky," Blacky assured her. "Those are tears of joy."

"Thanks for delivering that to me, Parakarry. This was written recently I hope?"

"It was given to me for delivery just this morning," the mailman confirmed.

"Great. Is there anything I can offer you along with my gratitude?"

"A spot on your team would be swell."

"That so?"

"I'm a little upset with those two myself. While I was getting the letter from Birdo, one of them tried to shoot me with darts. I must say, he's not a good shooter at all."

"Huh. Okay then. Done and done. Welcome aboard."

"Excuse me for butting in," Silverstone said politely. "But we have precious little time. We can't dawdle if we hope to rescue our friends."

"He's right, you know," Mario added. "We'd better get a move on."

"Hey! When did you wake up?" Wario growled.

"I bet you'd like to know," his rival said slyly. "As I was saying-"

"I heard you the first time," Luigi interrupted. "Do you really expect me to lead an army of yoshis to fight some zookeepers that are trying to catch then? I mean, what do you think this is? Pikmin?"

"Pick what?" Mario had no idea what his brother meant.

"Er, never mind that. I was just saying that it might be too dangerous to bring all of the yoshis to the beach at the same time. Perhaps I should put together a team or something."

"Yeah. Probably be a good idea."

"Let's see now," the hero pondered as he paced back and forth. "First, I'll take Sushie and Parakarry. Both of them have battled before. Oh, better take Silverstone too. Could you guys join me over here please?"

"Take me with you, Luigi!" Purpley shouted.

"I dunno. It could be dangerous," Luigi tried to protest.

"Oh, c'mon," the girl yoshi cooed as she rubbed against Luigi. "You might get lonely."

"Well...alright. I just can't say no to that cute face. Okay. One more should do it."

"Take Waluigi with you," Wario suggested.

"Are you kidding?" Waluigi sneered. "Why would he want me? I tried to help out before and blew it. Remember?"

"Just take him. He's gotta be good for something."

"Not gonna happen."

"Don't you want the honor of helping the Superstar of the Universe? Heh heh..."

"Oh, shut up," the tall man snapped. "I swear that game of Treadmill Grill was rigged!"

"Tell you what," Luigi said matter-of-factly. "If you don't want to help, just make snide remarks when the zookeepers do something stupid. Alrighty?"

"I can handle that."

"Good. A party of six should do the trick. Mario, you and everyone else hang back while we get down to the beach. Understood?"

"Understand completely," said Mario.

"Okay, gang. Onward!"


	21. Purpley Fights Back

Chapter 21: Purpley Fights Back

Luigi and his five companions made their way down the river at a quicker pace than usual while the rest stayed out of trouble. The beach seemed like it was still some distance away. Will they make it in time?

"Hmm," Parakarry read the letter from Birdo as he flew along. "This says that there is a cat-like creature looking for you, Luigi. Any idea what that might be?"

"Can't say that I've even heard of it before," he replied.

Purpley seemed to be unusually focused right now. Normally she would go on about how cute Luigi was, but at the moment she was faithfully following him and not talking at all.

"Could I have a word with you, Purpley?" asked Silverstone.

"What is it?" she said, not breaking stride.

"I see that you appear to be infatuated with Luigi. How did that come about?"

Purpley slowed down a bit. "Infatuated?"

"It means to really like someone," Silverstone explained to her.

"Oh. In that case..."

Purpley told the Jewel Tribe member about the events that took place a year ago. Luigi was stranded on Yoshi's Island and was taken into the herd by Blacky. Purpley first met him during a herd meeting when he was initiated. The poor guy was quite shy and a bit scared, but at the same time there was just something about him that Purpley liked. She couldn't seem to put her finger on it though. However, Purpley was not the only one that took a shining to him right away. Her son Oshi, who was only a few months old at the time, did as well.

"Interesting story," Silverstone remarked when she finished. "Not very helpful, but interesting. I suppose love at first sight can happen."

"You have terrible taste, Purpley," Waluigi smirked. "Stick to your own species, eh?"

"Hey!" Sushie shouted as she hopped up and latched onto Waluigi's face. "This is not the time for your snide comments. She has the right to like anyone she wants. You got that?"

"Ye-yes," Waluigi gulped.

"I think it's time for a break," said Luigi. "I need a drink."

The party had been making great time. Another hour or so and they'll be at the shore. But right now they looked pretty parched and could probably use some food as well.

"Mmm. This is better than the water at the old waterhole." Purpley sighed with relief as she drank.

Suddenly, a cat-like animal leaped out of a nearby bush and ran toward Luigi and friends! The creature was cream in color except for its ears which were black and its hind feet which were orange. It stood at about one foot and four inches, had large eyes and an odd yellow charm on its forehead.

"That's that thing?" Sushie asked in alarm.

"Meowth!" the cat snarled. "At last you came. So which one of you bozos is Luigi?"

"I guess this was the cat thing that Birdo mentioned," Parakarry thought.

"Stay away from him!" Purpley shouted in a pretty angry tone.

"Now now. Settle down," said Luigi.

To everyone's surprise, Purpley ran right past Luigi and slapped Meowth across the face.

"Whoa! Chill out, Purpley!"

She wasn't done yet. After slapping him a few more times, she bashed him over the head with her tail, stunning him for a moment.

"Yo, lemme try something again," Waluigi grinned.

While Purpley growled at the cat, Waluigi leered at it with his Dark Stare technique. His eyes glowed with an eerie purple aura, then faded away. It still didn't look like it had any effect though.

"Waluigi, what is the point of this?" Luigi asked in disgust.

"Hey, Meowth. Do either of the zookeepers have a laptop computer by any chance?" Waluigi questioned.

"Sure. Why?" Meowth answered in a daze.

"I think it has a virus now. Better look into that."

"Okay then. Hey! I'm not dumb enough to fall for that!"

Meowth snapped out of its dazed state and raked its claws across Waluigi's face with a slash attack.

"Pfft-hahahaha!" Luigi laughed. "I mean, whatever. Let's take this guy out!"

Luigi grabbed the small creature and immediately spiked it into the ground. Purpley was still being aggressive though. With a mighty kick, she sent it flying skyward!

"Looks like Meowth is blasting off again!" Meowth yelled just before he turned into a star in the distance.

"A star in the daytime? Unusual," Silverstone mused.

For some reason, a big blue text box appeared out of nowhere. This is what it said...

"Purpley earned 50 experience points!

Waluigi earned 50 experience points!

Luigi earned 50 experience points!

Luigi levels up!

Luigi learned Pyro Kick!"

"What the heck is this?" Waluigi said in utter confusion. "Some sort of RPG?"

"Cool!" Luigi hooted. "I just got a new attack!"

Purpley didn't seem to know what was going on either. She just stared at her hands which were shaking.

"Well done, guys," Parakarry gave the fighters a thumbs-up.

"Are you alright, Purpley? You look a little tense," Silverstone worried.

"I dunno. It's not like I'm scared. So why am I shaking like I am?"

Luigi took hold of her hands and looked at them. "You're just angry. An adrenalin rush, no doubt.."

"Ada-what?"

"Adrenalin rush. It's nothing to worry about. You'll be okay in a few minutes."

"Yeah. Just try to relax a bit," Sushie added.

Luigi smiled. "Frankly, I didn't know you had it in you. You go, girl."

Purpley returned the smile. "I think I understand why Browny liked battling so much now."

Over at the zookeeper's ship, Vicky was trying to boot up her laptop. It wasn't working however...

"Lousy hunk of junk!" Vicky gritted her teeth in frustration.

Nicky happened to be giving some fruit to the yoshis when he heard something falling toward him. That something turned out to be Meowth!

"What are you doing here?" The calmer of the zookeepers asked. "You're supposed to look for that Luigi guy."

"Oh, I found him." Meowth groaned. "He's on his way here and he's pretty strong."

"Really now?"

"Are you sure you're not just weak?" Vicky said, noticing the two dillydallying.

That comment angered Meowth, causing him to scratch Vicky several times.

"My face!" She pulls out a mirror and looks at it. "It looks like a checker board!"

"As I was saying," Meowth continued. "If we want to keep the yoshis that we have, WE GOTTA LEAVE RIGHT NOW!"

Back up in the mountains, Silverstone had in idea. "Hop on me, Luigi," he said seriously.

"You want me to mount you? Are you sure?"

"Quite. I can get you to the beach much faster with the Star Surf, but I'm afraid I can't take all of you this way."

"Star Surf?" Luigi raised an eyebrow. "Well, I hope you know what you're doing."

"Trust me. I've done this plenty of times."

Luigi got on Silverstone's back while the yoshi majestically waved a hand forward.

"The rest of you get to the beach as fast as you can." Luigi instructed. "Make sure the zookeepers don't get away. Silverstone and I will- Whoa!"

Luigi saw that Silverstone had summoned a large star for them to ride.

"This is a little something I learned from Stardust," Silverstone said, hopping on. "Hold on tight, now. It can really get going."

Luigi and Silverstone bid farewell to the others, then their ride blasts off to their destination like a shooting star. The two warriors were heading straight toward what will be the final battle...


	22. The Showdown

Chapter 22: The Showdown

With Luigi quickly approaching their position, the zookeepers were in a bit of a tizzy. They prepared to leave as fast as possible.

"We're getting out of this scary place right now!" Nicky shouted as he ran toward the helm.

"Luigi really is coming," Redy said hopefully when he noticed the ruckus. "I knew he would."

"Don't party just yet, guys," Birdo seemed a little doubtful. "I don't think he'll get here in time."

"Why isn't this thing starting?" Nicky yelled and tried kicking the helm, only to get his leg caught in it somehow.

"On the other hand..."

"What are you doing, Nicky? We don't have all day!" Vicky was quickly losing her temper.

"I think we're out of gas and now my leg is stuck..." her brother whimpered.

"Meowth, a little help please."

"Yeah. I think this will give Luigi some extra time," Birdo said as she and the others continue to watch.

"I agree with you there," Luigi's voice came from behind a pile of crates.

"Luigi? Is that you?" Redy asked in surprise.

Silverstone, with Luigi still on him, stepped out. With Vicky and Nicky distracted, they had no trouble sneaking abroad. Hopefully they'll have enough time to free the captives as well.

"Whoa..." Redy and Birdo said in awe when they saw the silver yoshi. "Who are you?"

"Keep it quiet," Luigi whispered.

"The name is Silverstone. Luigi and I have come to rescue you. Hi there, Whitey."

"Hi, Silverstone," Whitey said, in yoshi speak of course.

"You know this guy?" asked Redy.

"Sure. I'm guessing that thing on him is Luigi, huh?"

"That's right."

"I said keep it d-"

Luigi's words were cut off when he heard the sound of footsteps coming.

"Uh oh..." Silverstone gulped.

"So!" Vicky barked. "Trying to take back the yoshis, are we?"

Luigi jumped off Silverstone and took a few swings in Vicky's direction. "Yeah! And let's see you stop me!"

Vicky pulled out a stink bomb and threw it toward Luigi. However, before it landed...

"Crystal Kick!" Silverstone shouted as he kicked the stink bomb in mid-air. The bomb was turned into a hunk of crystal which shattered when it hit the floor. The bomb turned out to be completely harmless!

"Amazing!" Redy exclaimed.

"He's pretty cool, huh?" Whitey said with a smile.

Luigi was surprised too. What other neat powers did this strange yoshi have?

"Good idea! Lemme try one now! Pyro Kick!" Luigi ran toward a nearby Meowth at blinding speed and struck with a flaming kick. Poor Meowth was sent flying off the ship.

"That was pretty cool too," the white yoshi admitted.

Meowth landed on the beach where Purpley's party had just arrived.

"You again! Get out of our way!" Purpley shouted.

Before Meowth could get away, Waluigi picked him up with one hand and used the other to shine his laser pointer in the cat's eyes.

"Heh heh," the skinny man chuckled. "How do you like that Laser Point Flash? That's what you get for scratching me!"

Purpley grabbed Meowth from Waluigi, slammed him into the sand and stepped on him. Then she slurped him up with her tongue and incased him in an egg.

"Hey now," said Parakarry. "No need to be so violent."

Purpley calmed right down when she saw the ship. "He must be there right now. He's so brave..."

Suddenly, the ship exploded!

"LUIGIII!"

Luigi, Silverstone, both zookeepers and the cage that Redy and Whitey were in were all sent flying. Luckily they all landed on the soft sand of the beach.

"What was that?" Nicky shouted at Vicky.

"That was a real bomb! My bad!"

"That does it!" Luigi charged up a Hyper Burn attack. "Y'all want a piece o' this?"

Vicky and Nicky scream and run in fear as Luigi unleashes the Burn. The attack missed its target.

"Somebody! Help!" Redy called from inside the cage.

"I'm on my way!" Silverstone said and ran over to the imprisoned yoshis.

"Silverstone!" Whitey cried.

"Don't worry, Whitey. I'll get you and your friend out of there an just a sec," he assured her, "If I had the key, that is."

Luigi was trying just about every fire attack he had on the zookeepers. Strangely, the two were evasive and he missed often.

"Crystal Tears!"

A flurry of crystal shards showered down. The technique nailed the zookeepers a few times, but unfortunately, they also hit Luigi.

Luigi charged up a Hyper Burn, but refused to release it. This time he was using it for defense by having the flames surrounding him protect him from the sharp shards.

"Sorry about the friendly fire, Luigi!" Silverstone apologized.

Before the downpour finished, Silverstone plucked one of the crystals out of the air and used it as a lock pick. The yoshis were freed!

"Thanks, silver yoshi!" Redy said gratefully.

"We owe you one!" Whitey added.

"Follow me, guys. I'll get you to safety," Silverstone lead the two yoshis to where the others were, then returned to Luigi.

"Alright, you good-for-nothings!" Luigi was charging yet another Hyper Burn. "Dodge this one!"

"Hey, Luigi," Silverstone said politely. "I got the yoshis out just fine."

"That's great, but I'm kinda busy right...ugh..."

"Huh?"  
Luigi let the fire attack loose in no particular direction and sank to the ground. He was panting and his face was a bit on the red side.

"He's done?" asked Vicky.

"That seemed a little easy," Nicky shrugged.

"Luigi! Get up!"

Sushie bounced over to where Luigi and Silverstone were. "The last fire attack must've made him too hot. I'll just go ahead and cool him off."

"Could you?" Silverstone smiled hopefully.

"Sure thing," Sushie leaned back and sprayed some water upward. The water then showered down on Luigi and created a 'cube' of water around him. Sushie's Water Block move not only cooled the hero off, but it will raise his defense for a short while.

"Grazie!" Luigi shouted, ready to battle again. "I needed that! Let me handle everything here!"

"Well, alright. But if you need anything, just give a shout," Sushie said as she and Silverstone retreated into the trees.

At the edge of the forest, Mario's squad had caught up with the others.

"To bring you up to speed, Luigi and Silverstone got those two yoshis out just fine," Parakarry informed Mario. "But then he overheated himself with all his fire attacks. Sushie cooled him down so he should be fine now."

"We also caught this little trouble-maker," Waluigi beamed as he held up a fainted Meowth.

In the battle, Vicky was now holding a red and white ball. She threw it to the ground and it opened up to reveal a very large purple cobra.

"An Arbok!" Luigi gasped.

"Yeah! Let's see you deal with this!"

"Vicky? I think you're going a bit too far with this," Nicky said quietly.

"Shut up, Nicky! Can't you see I'm going to win? Arbok! Wrap attack! Show him what-for!"

Luigi was too scared to think of a plan to deal with this new monster, so he did the only thing that came to mind: run. Unfortunately he didn't get far before he found himself trapped in the coils of Arbok.

"Stop this right now!" shouted Nicky.

"I told you to shut up!" Vicky shot back.

"I won't work for you anymore if you keep doing this!"

Vicky ignored her sibling. "Now use Toxic, Arbok! No mercy!"

Luigi's friends were frozen in fear as they watched the horrible scene.

"Where did that big snake come from?" Pinky shuddered.

"Oh no!" cried Silverstone. "It just poisoned Luigi!"

"I'm not gonna let this happen!" Purpley stomped toward the fight.

"Purpley, wait!" Blacky called after her.

For some reason, Nicky completely left Vicky and ran into the forest. He went right past the herd and didn't bother them at all. It was as if he didn't even notice them.

"Where's that one going?" Waluigi wondered.

Things were looking grim for our hero on the battlefield. Luigi struggled to free himself from Arbok, but it was no use. Because he couldn't raise his arms, he is prevented from using Hyper Burn and there was little else he could do. Luigi simply sat tight and waited for one of his comrades to aid him.

Help did arrive shortly. Mario tried a Freeze Blaster attack and struck Arbok in the face, causing the Pokémon's entire body to freeze.

"Yeah! I got 'em!" Mario hooted and did a dance of joy.

Luigi tried his best to slip out of Arbok's frozen coils and eventually did. Then, using the last of his strength, he reaches into the pocket of his overalls.

"Hey, ugly!" Purpley taunted Vicky. "Can't catch me!"

"Me either!" Mario added while shaking his butt at the zookeeper.

"Wanna bet, fatso?" Vicky growled. She forgot about Luigi and began to chase his brother.

With the villain distracted, Luigi was able to pull out...

"Hey, everyone!" Yellowy announced. "Luigi has a heart fruit!"

All the yoshis let out a happy cheer. Except for Silverstone, who never heard of the wondrous fruit before.

"Mmm!" Luigi sighed with pleasure as he ate the heart fruit. "I can see why this is popular! Delicious!"

Luigi was instantly overcome by a warm and happy feeling. All his wounds healed and the poison was neutralized. He was also sparkly like he had just used a Starman.

"Oh, crud!" Mario cried when Vicky caught him. "Purpley! Help!"

"I've got you now, Blubber Buns!" Vicky hissed. "Whoa!"

The ground shook for a moment and Vicky almost fell down. Mario and Purpley saw that Luigi had just performed a Ground Pound nearby, causing the quake.

"Luigi! You're okay!"

"Let him go, fiend!" Luigi said accusingly.

"What?" Vicky said in shock. "I thought Arbok had you on the ropes!"

"Guess again," Purpley smiled and pointed to the still frozen Arbok.

"Dang! Well, where's Meowth?"

Wario walked up to Vicky and dropped a fainted Meowth at her feet. "The wimp couldn't even take one Lightning Slam from me," he scoffed.

"Double dang! Fine! I'll fight you myself then!"

Vicky released Mario from her clutches, then gave Luigi a swift kick to the chest. The desperate attack didn't even cause him to flinch.

"Triple dang! You've got to be kidding me!"

"Game over. You lose," Luigi said with no break in his facade.

Luigi pulled a yoshi egg out of nowhere and threw it at Vicky and Meowth. It exploded on impact and sent the two flying sky-high!

"Looks like we're blasting off again!" Vicky screamed before turning into a star.

Luigi simply looked at the star and chuckled as his invincibility faded away.

"You did it!" Blacky said with glee as he and the other yoshis ran up to him.

"Yeah! Bravo, Luigi!" Mario cheered.

Luigi puffed out his chest with pride and grinned.

"Wait!" shouted Redy. "Where's Birdo?"

The cage that Birdo was in didn't land on the beach after the ship exploded and sunk. That could only mean one thing.

"Oh no. I wasn't ready for this," Luigi quickly looked around and noticed Purpley. "Kiss me!"

"What? Really?" asked the confused yoshi.

"Just do it," Luigi said in a no-nonsense tone.

Purpley didn't think that now was really a good time to do it, but she obeyed the order.

"Okay! Let's do this!" Luigi shouted confidently as he swam out to where the zookeepers' ship was last seen and dived underwater.

"Dang. That guy is persistent," Waluigi observed. "He doesn't go down without a fight."

"I sure hope he has a hefty air supply," Wario laughed.

Mario was about to slug his rival, but he withdrew his fist. "You say some pretty stupid things, but for everyone's sake I hope you're right."

Everyone watched the sea in anticipation. However, after a couple of minutes, there was no sign of Luigi.

"Oooh. He tried so hard too," Pinky sobbed.

"Hey, Sushie," Blacky noticed the Cheep Cheep. "You're a fish, right? Go find him."

"Oh, shoot. The suspense made me forget," Sushie muttered in embarrassment.

Fortunately, Luigi and Birdo washed up onto the beach. Everyone ran over to check on them. Both were gasping for air, but were otherwise unharmed.

"Luigi...you saved me..." Birdo said weakly.

"Yeah..." said an exhausted Luigi.

Birdo got on her feet and saw the herd. "You saved Redy and Whitey too. Oh! Is that Mini Bluey? Where are the zookeepers though?"

"Luigi beat one of them." Mario told her. "But the other one got away..."


	23. Confessions

Chapter 23: Confessions

Even though Luigi had defeated one of the zookeepers, the yoshis were worried that the one that escaped would come back and cause trouble.

"What are we going to do, Luigi?" asked Orangey. "The other one is out there somewhere."

"I'm not sure," the leader answered. "I guess I'll teach him a lesson if he tries any funny stuff."

Luckily, Luigi did not have to search around for him. Nicky slowly walked out of the woods and toward the herd.

"Eek! There he is!" Redy trembled with fear.

"He's come to catch me again!" Whitey shouted and jumped into her mate's arms.

"Boy, that guy must be really dumb," Birdo shook her head.

"What do you want?" Luigi gave Nicky a dirty look as he approached him.

"Please listen to me," Nicky said with a frown. "I apologize for what my sister did. I think she's evil."

"You think?" Waluigi scoffed. "How stupid do you think we are?"

"Yeah. Get out of here before I hurt you," Luigi growled.

"This isn't what you think. First, my name is Nicholas. Nicholas Sugimori to be exact. My sister's name is Victoria Sugimori. We're actually twins."

"Your point is...?"

"Do any of you watch the Pokémon cartoon by any chance?"

"Yeeeah. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, I do the voice for James of Team Rocket. Vicky does Jessie's."

Luigi stroked his mustache thoughtfully. "Now that you mention that, I thought you two sounded familiar..."

"I suppose that would explain the Meowth, huh?" Mario guessed.

"Those uniforms from the other day too," Waluigi added.

"Yes," Nicky confirmed. "I took that job because I love animals and Pokémon looked pretty cool to me. That's also why I'm a zookeeper. So I can be with lots of animals every day. It seemed like a fine job until I met you, sir. You've shown me that keeping animals in captivity is wrong. I just don't want to be a zookeeper anymore."

"So you're not really a bad guy then?" Redy spoke up. "So if you didn't want to catch us, why didn't you tell Vicky?"

"That's the problem. She's not exactly the agreeable type. I suppose that would make her the evil twin, huh?"

"I know how you feel. Mario can be like that sometimes. So stubborn," Luigi snickered

"Hey!" Mario was offended by the comment.

Luigi thought back to awhile ago when Arbok had him trapped. He was confused to see Nicky run away, but now he understood why.

"That's right. I like animals, but I hate it when they're used for violence. Anyway, I don't want to be a zookeeper anymore, but I still want to work with animals. Can anyone think of a new job for me?"

"How about being a vet?" Parakarry suggested.

"You'd be helping a lot of animals with a job like that," Sushie agreed.

"I thought about that before, but unfortunately I have a bit of a weak stomach. To be honest, I felt kind of sick when Arbok poisoned your friend."

"I guess I'm not the only one," said Luigi.

"How about working in a pet shop?" asked Mario.

"No! Please! No more trapped animals!"

"Actually, you'd be helping those animals find better homes where they will be happy and comfortable."

"Now that you put it that way, I do like that sound of it. I think I'll do just that. But first I have a problem," Nicky sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"My sister and my ship are both gone. I'm stranded here!"

"Well, now..." Luigi said thoughtfully as he gazed around. He looked at Wario and got an idea.

"What are you staring at?"

"Can I have a moment with you?"

"What is it?" Wario asked when Luigi took him off to the side.

"You wouldn't happen to have a life boat or something, would you?

"Yeah. I never used the thing once. I guess the guy can have it if that's why you're asking."

"That would be great."

"Fine. Come on," Wario got Nicky and escorted him to his ship.

Luigi realized something else and spoke to Blacky. "I need you to do me a favor. Take my back pack and stuff it with fruit, then go to the water hole and fill up this bottle."

"Sure thing," the dark-colored yoshi said as he took the items from Luigi and headed into the forest.

"So tired," Luigi sighed with exhaustion.

"I can tell. You've been through a lot. Poor guy," Birdo said sympathetically.

"Thanks for saving us though, Luigi," Redy smiled.

"Oh, gotta say hi," said Whitey.

"Pardon?" Luigi was confused. He, of course, did not understand yoshi speak.

"I said hi. Thanks for saving me."

"Oh no! Not again!"

"I guess we never mentioned that Whitey can't speak English," Pinky giggled. "She says thanks though."

At this time, both Nicky and Blacky arrived.

"I'm ready to go," said Nicky. "I just need a few pointers now."

"Just a moment."

Luigi took the items back from Blacky, then brought them to a life boat that was sitting on the edge of the water. He dumped the fruit into it and put the bottle of water in as well.

"Wouldn't be right to send you off without food and fresh water," Luigi explained.

"Ah. Right. Many thanks."

"As for pointers," the hero continued. The Toad Town Port is that way if it means anything. Actually, there's a number of islands along the way. Either stop at one for directions or set up a home there. People around these parts are usually pretty nice."

"I'll get right on it."

"One last thing..." Luigi paused for a moment. "James is one of my favorite Pokémon characters. I'm sort of a sucker for sidekicks. Could I trouble you for an autograph?"

"No trouble at all," Nicky said and pulled out a picture of James. He signed his name on the front, then turned it over and wrote a message on the back.

"Grazie."

"Excuse me?"

"That's just my way of saying thanks. It's Italian, by the way."

"I see. But it is I that must thank you. If I ever see Vicky abuse another animal again, I'll tell her that you will hunt her down and fry her. Farewell!"

"You do that," Luigi laughed. "And I hope to see you in a pet shop later!"

Luigi waves to Nicky as he rows the boat away, then joins his friends.

"So he's gone?" asked Purpley.

"Yeah. He's gone. He'll probably stay out of trouble now."

The yoshis cheered. Their leader had reunited the entire herd and saved the day!


	24. Visiting the Hero's Home

Chapter 24: Visiting the Hero's Home

With the zookeepers gone and the entire herd together at last, the yoshis couldn't be happier!

"The threat is over!" Blacky exclaimed.

"And we're all together again!" Pinky cheered.

"Everything ought to return to normal now," Mario remarked. "Good work, Luigi."

"Yeah! Way to go, leader!" Oshi hooted.

"You were great!" said Mini Bluey.

"Um...I knew you could do it," Birdo said, feeling a little embarrassed. "I never doubted you."

"No problemo," Luigi smiled modestly.

"We should throw a party at our place or something," said Mario.

Luigi had been so busy lately that he had almost completely forgot about home. Now that Mario mentioned it, he was feeling a little homesick.

"Yeah. I'd like to go home," the hero said.

"Home? You mean you don't want to stay here?" asked Yosheta.

"I've been here way longer than I planned."

"Oh. Well, it's no use stopping you," Pinky frowned.

"Yeah. It was real nice to meet you though," Mini Bluey added.

Luigi looked at the yoshis. They were all sad to know that their leader and hero didn't want to stick around. It wasn't much different than the first time Luigi left them.

"It would be cool to see where you live," said Blacky.

Hearing this gave Luigi an idea, but it would require him to ask Wario for another favor. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do that so soon. Wario beat him to the punch, however.

"If you really want, we can take them along. I planned on coming back here anyway. I'll just return them when I do."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Just don't go around telling people that I did all these favors for you. Might ruin my reputation."

"Okay, guys," Luigi announced to the herd. "Wario just offered to take all of you to my place. Just follow him to the ship an-"

The yoshis were so excited that they ran straight to the ship, nearly trampling Wario in the process.

"Do they always act like that?" Wario asked, a little shocked from the close call.

"When I'm around and there's nothing bothering them, pretty much."

All the yoshis, the four humans, Sushie and Parakarry boarded the ship. Birdo chose to stay behind.

"I'm still on vacation." she explained. "Besides, I've seen that cute little place of yours plenty of times already. See you around, guys." She ended by blowing a kiss.

"Home, here we come!" Luigi shouted as he rode right on the ship's bow.

"Pinky, Mini Bluey and Yosheta stood at the back of the ship and watched as the island slowly disappeared from view.

"I never thought we'd ever leave Yoshi's Island before," Pinky said dreamily.

"Me either," Mini Bluey sighed. "It's a shame that I never found the Super Happy Tree though."

"Who needs a tree for happiness when we have each other, right?" Yosheta said cheerfully.

"You're right, dear," Pinky and Mini Bluey hugged their offspring.

"That's an insightful thing to say," Silverstone said as we walked up to the family. "I'm a little surprised that it came from someone as young as you."

Inside the cabin, Oshi was exploring the new environment while Luigi and Purpley lied down on the bed. Luigi had dozed off, but Purpley was too excited to sleep.

"I'm so glad you're our leader," the purple yoshi spoke. Then she began to sing softly in the yoshi language.

Mario entered the room. He was about to say something, but he stopped in his tracks and listened the Purpley's song.

"You sang that song before," Mario said, surprising Purpley. "You changed a few words though. Now you're singing about how Luigi saved the day instead of how he will save it. I think."

"You understand yoshi?"

"Not entirely, but I know enough to get by."

"How come you know it, but Luigi doesn't?"

"Luigi never got the chance to hang out with yoshis when he was younger," Mario grinned.

Outside, Silverstone was now chatting with Blacky and Yellowy.

"What was that thing that Luigi ate? It's got me curious."

"It's called a heart fruit," Blacky explained. "They're rare, but taste really good. So good, in fact, that they make you feel really powerful."

"That must be the case. One moment Luigi was losing, the next he completely wiped them out. It's a good thing he had it."

"Yes. He is really clever like that."

"I guess that's why he always smelled like heart fruit," Yellowy thought to himself. "Because he was holding one."

About half an hour later, Luigi woke up and pointed out each of the islands to the yoshis as they passed them. There was Kong Isle, home to that famous family of simians, the Kongs. Then there was Sarasaland, the desert kingdom that Daisy ruled.

"I'd better get off here," Parakarry told everyone. "Need to let one of my patrons know that their letter arrived safely."

Next was Kitchen Island which featured a mountain that looked like a teapot. After that was the popular vacation spot, Isle Delfino.

"So what do you think of Luigi?" Pinky asked Silverstone.

"I must say, he is quite the fellow," Silverstone chuckled. "When I return to Crystal Island, I'll tell the Jewel Tribe the story of a herd of yoshis that was lead by a human and how that human kept the herd safe from some evil humans."

"A legend about Luigi? Great idea!"

"Yeah. We liked the story about them," Yosheta giggled. She loved stories.

The ship soon came to an island with a great volcano. It was none other than Lavalava Island, the home of Sushie.

"This is where I get off," the Cheep Cheep said as she dived off the ship and swam to the island. "See y'all later!"

Silverstone was having such a great time getting to know the herd better that he decided to talk to Purpley next.

"Oh, hey there, Silverstone," Purpley greeted him when she saw him approach.

"Hello. You know, you really impressed me back there."

"Huh?"

"I always thought that normal yoshis were always mellow and laid-back," Silverstone explained. "But you proved to me that they can fight back when the situation calls for it. Now if all the yoshis fought like you did, you probably wouldn't even need my help."

Purpley felt a little strange to be praised by someone other than Luigi or one of the other herd members. She had to admit that she even surprised herself. She simply smiled back.

Luigi listened to the conversation with interest. Even though he had only known Silverstone for about a day, he liked him a lot. It wasn't just because he is a legend or a great fighter either. One would think that a rarity like him would be stuck up or at least frown upon the common-colored yoshis, but Silverstone wasn't like that at all. He was as friendly as the other yoshis. Perhaps even more so.

Soon, Wario's ship landed at its destination of the Toad Town Port. As everyone got off, Wario pulled Luigi off to the side.

"Here," the gruff fellow said as he handed Luigi a sack with a few crystals in it. "Give this to the silver guy."

"Now you're weirding me out," said a wide-eyed Luigi. "You steal treasure, not give it away."

"Relax. I remember where that crystal cave is. When I come back to the island, I'll just go over there and raid it again. Maybe even find the other caves," Wario laughed heartily. "Now get out of here, you leader of colorful dinosaurs."

"Will do. Grazie," Luigi waved, then joined Mario and the yoshis.

Normally, Toad Town was a busy place. But because it was evening, must of the residents were in their homes. Perhaps it was for the better. The yoshis were already quite curious about the place without the Toads in the way.

"This place is pretty weird," Orangey commented, gazing around.

"I agree," Redy shrugged. "Where is the beach? The forest? The mountains?"

After a short walk, they arrived at the other side of town where the warp pipe that led to where Mario and Luigi's house was.

"In there? Are you sure?" asked Blacky.

Warp pipes were actually fairly common on Yoshi's Island, but the former leader had warned the herd to never enter them. After all, going onto the wrong one could easily land somebody in a dangerous place like a magma pit or the lair of a beast.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll go first," Luigi climbed into the pipe and slides down.

"Look, guys," said Mario. "It's perfectly safe. Would Luigi lie to you?"

The yoshis had always trusted Luigi and there was little reason to stop now. One by one, they went into the pipe and popped out at the other end.

At the front yard of the house, Luigi took a minute to check the mailbox for letters.

"So this is where you live, huh?" Oshi observed as he looked at the house. "Looks neat."

"Well, let's go on in," Mario said and unlocked the door.

"As much as I'd like to stick around, I should probably get going," said Silverstone. "Surely Goldendale and the others are worried about me by now."

"Understood. I know you have things you gotta do," Luigi pulled out the sack that Wario gave him. "You'd better take this."

"A parting gift?" Silverstone opened it and saw the crystals inside. "Aha. Crystals. Thank you. I've been needing these."

"I have one question before you leave."

"Yes?" Silverstone replied after swallowing a mouthful of gems.

"Why were you on Yoshi's Island to begin with? You belong on Crystal Island, right?"

"I was on a special mission. I was sent there to seek out Blackdust and Rainbow. Considering that there are crystals on the island, I thought it was worth a shot. I suppose they're not there though."

"Well, I wish you luck on your search."

"That's very kind of you," the legendary yoshi said as he prepared to use the Star Surf. "Good-bye, my friend."

"Ciao!"

Luigi watched as Silverstone boarded the star and jetted into the sky. Then, with an exhausted sigh, he went into his house.

"What's this thing?" Pinky asked and pointed to the phone.

"It's called a telephone," Mario yawned. "We use it to call people that are far away. Please stop asking questions now."

While Luigi was talking to Silverstone, the yoshis had been asking Mario about several of the objects in house. Mario was getting rather tired of it.

"Speaking of that, I'd better check the answer machine. I see there's a few messages on it," Luigi pressed a button on the answer machine and it began to play each of the messages.

"Nice one, guys! Luigi, call me back when you get your butt home! You know who this is!"

"Daisy. I figured."

"I'll leave a message, alright! Where the heck are you, Luigi? You said you'd only be gone for a few days! Don't you dare ditch me! Argh!"

Luigi felt a little nervous now.

"For crying out loud, Luigi! Are you still gone or are you ignoring me? If it's about last month, I didn't know you were allergic to those herbs I gave you, okay? Ugh. Whatever. Just call me back whenever you can. Bye."

"I guess I'd better get on that..."

"Hi, Luigi. This is Daisy again. No, I'm not mad at you anymore. I'm sorry about the messages I left earlier. Parakarry just flew in and told me that you were busy saving an entire herd of yoshis from zookeepers. All I have to say is congrats on a job well done, gallant knight. Hope to see you soon. Bye now."

"Heh heh," Mario chuckled. "The news is spreading like wildfire already."

Mario put two large pizzas in the oven for dinner. The yoshis found the meal to be quite intriguing. It was pretty late in the day by the time they finished.

"Hey, Luigi," Mario spoke to his brother. "You should think about going to bed. You've gotta be tired."

"Indeed," Luigi yawned.

"You did pretty good though. Heck, you can sleep on the top bunk tonight. I'd say you earned it."

"Grazie, but I'm so tired right now, I'm not even sure if I can climb up there. Could I do it another night?"

"No problem. One quick question before you go to sleep though."

"Yeah?"

"What did the heart fruit taste like? I've been meaning to ask you that for awhile now."

Luigi took a moment to recall the delicious taste. "Fruit punch," he said.

"I see. I suppose that's plausible. Good night," Mario climbed onto the top bunk.

Luigi flopped onto the bottom bunk and immediately fell asleep. The yoshis found the rug in the bedroom to be comfortable and slept there. Except for Purpley, that is.

"I'm so proud of you," the girl whispered. She lied down on the bottom bunk, put her head on her hero's chest, and drifted to sleep.

For some reason, Mario woke up in the middle of the night and went outside...


	25. Friends Forever

Chapter 25: Friends Forever

Luigi woke up the next morning feeling fresh and fit. He noticed that Purpley had her head on his chest, but didn't think much of it. He carefully lifted if off so he did not wake her and slid out of bed. After eating breakfast, he went into his secret basement and worked on his diary.

"I don't think I want to play Pokémon for awhile," Luigi said aloud as he finished writing the entry. "Not after being attacked by an Arbok."

Luigi set down his pencil and diary, then looked at the autographed picture he received yesterday. Nicky had signed "Nicholas Sugimori" on a picture of James striking a fancy pose. On the back, he wrote "Thanks for pointing me in the right direction."

Luigi left the basement and went into the kitchen where Bluey happened to be looking for him.

"What the-?" Bluey said in surprise.. "How'd you do that? I just checked over there and didn't see you."

"Sorry, but it's a secret," Luigi grinned.

Once everyone was awake, Luigi gave them all some cereal for breakfast. The yoshis were not familiar with the concept of spoons, so Luigi showed them how it was done. A few of the yoshis caught on, but the rest simply slurped up the cereal and milk straight from the bowl, much to Luigi's dismay.

After breakfast, Mario stumbled through the front door. He looked like he was roughed up, as if he was attacked by something.

"Are you okay, Mario?" Luigi asked when he saw the older brother's condition.

"Just fine. Gotta lie down now," Mario said quickly as he flopped onto the bottom bunk and passed out.

The rest of the day was spent much like if they were back on Yoshi's Island. Luigi took the herd to nearby Goomba Road where they played Hide-and-Seek. The road had plenty of trees, bushes and rocks as well as a small fort, so it was a suitable place for the game. It was also great for Tag. There were no beaches or sand, so another favorite game of the yoshis, Tic-Tac-Toe, was played with the chalkboard that Mario had on the kitchen wall.

Mario slept for the entire day and did not get up until everyone had nodded off. After eating a meal, he went outside again.

The next morning, Luigi made blueberry waffles for the herd. Bluey, Mini Bluey and Purpley seemed to enjoy them very much.

"Oh no!" Luigi said as he used the last of the waffle batter. "I gotta go to the store and get more food!"

Like the previous morning, Mario came in at around this time. He looked even worse now.

"Are you sure you're okay, Mario?" Luigi asked when he saw Mario flop onto the bottom bunk again. "You were in bed all day yesterday."

"I'm fine. Go play with the yoshis now," Mario yawned, then fell asleep.

Today, Luigi introduced the yoshis to a little something called television. After an episode of The Koopa Khronicles, Luigi took a couple of yoshis to the store with him where he picked up some groceries.

"I haven't seen you around in awhile," the shopkeeper said to Luigi. "Went on an adventure with your brother this time?"

"Sort of," Luigi replied. "We actually went on a vacation of sorts which did turn into an adventure."

"I take it those yoshis over there are friends you just met there?"

"I've known them for a year. I just don't see them much."

The shopkeeper rang up the items Luigi bought. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"A few Super Mushrooms please. I think Mario might need them."

After the shopkeeper bagged Luigi's purchases, Luigi grabbed them and headed back home where he restocked the cupboards.

Nighttime came around and everyone went to sleep as usual. Except Mario who, once again, went outside.

In the morning of the third day, Luigi was about to call Wario so he can take the yoshis back home when Mario stopped him.

"Don't," he said cryptically.

Mario was in absolutely horrible shape. His face was covered in scratches and he now walked with a limp.

"I don't want to do it either, Mario. But it's hard to keep these guys fed. I already spent all my coins. They have to go back."

"Luigi doesn't want us to stay?" Purpley overheard what Luigi said and felt sad.

"Just give me another day or two," Mario grunted. "As for feeding them, I'll give you some money. There's also a lot of berries in Flower Fields that they would probably like, you know."

After he handed Luigi some coins, Mario ate one of the mushrooms that Luigi bought and went to bed.

Today was spent exploring the Mushroom Kingdom a bit. Luigi showed them the way to towns such as Goomba Village and Koopa Village. Then it was off to Flower Fields where the yoshis had a ball. They took great delight to smelling flowers and eating berries. It was almost like they were back home.

Luigi couldn't help but wonder what Mario was up to and why he told Luigi to have the yoshis stay longer. He just couldn't figure out.

Mario's plan was revealed the next morning. "Okay, yoshis. Time to go home."

"Aww. I wish Yoshi's Island wasn't so far away," Redy frowned.

"I'd really like to see Luigi more often," Orangey sighed.

"That's the beauty of this," Mario boasted. "I've made it so you can."

Mario led everyone outside and to the back yard where there was a couple of bushes. He spread them apart and there was...

"A warp pipe?" asked Luigi.

"Yup. It took me a few nights to do it, but I installed a warp pipe to Yoshi's Island. Just hop in and it'll take you right there and vise versa. Who wants to try it first?"

"I'd better," said Luigi. "Because I find this a little hard to believe."

Luigi went down the pipe. The yoshis waited a couple of minutes to see if their friend would return safely. Not only did he come back just fine, but he also had a few berries in hand.

"Well, he's not kidding," Luigi said happily. "It goes right to Purpley's home."

"It must work then," Blacky concluded. "Thank you, Mario, for the warp pipe. And thank you again, Luigi, for saving all of us."

"I guess it's time to go home now," Pinky smiled. "But we'll be back."

One at a time, the yoshis said good-bye and went down the warp pipe. Before Purpley left, she gave Luigi a gentle hug. Soon, they were all gone.

"You nearly beat yourself up...for me?" Luigi asked, still feeling a tad bit confused.

"Sure. Not just for you, but for the yoshis too. It would be a shame for all of you if you couldn't come back for yet another year."

"Grazie!" Luigi gave Mario the biggest hug he could.

"Careful! That arm's been sore for awhile!"

Things worked out great for Luigi and the herd. Because of the direct link to Yoshi's Island, the yoshis could come and go as they pleased. They visited Luigi often. Sometimes to play games with him. Other times to chat. But never to complain about zookeepers.

One quiet evening, Luigi was zoning out to some music when Mario suddenly bursted into the bedroom.

"Check this out, Luigi!" Mario handed him a letter.

"What do we have here?" Luigi glanced through the letter. "I just won a mansion? I don't recall entering a contest for one, but hey. Can't complain."

"Wanna go check it out, little bro?"

"You bet, big bro."

Luigi's adventure with the yoshis has come to an end, but what other adventures could be in store for the green-clad hero? Only time can tell...


End file.
